The new goal for the mobile wars are “Mini phones”. Hewlett Packard has one already. Now Apple needs one to stay competitive with its nearest rival at home, Android.
The mission for Apple is deemed to be on the critical level. To stay afloat, they need to deal with the Google Android threat. Google is energizing ( activating ) 400,000 Android devices per day as of last month. Apple and their iOS mobile operating system are not up to par in this area. To change that, a new form of smartphone needs to come along, one called a “mini phone”. In the case of Apple, it would be a “mini iPhone”. This is just what it sounds like, a smaller smartphone with a smaller price.
Apple has done a fine job of expanding their products and gaining new customers. They finally have moved away from using just one US carrier to using two. Now that smartphones are starting to become more popular and arch enemies are falling by the wayside, it is time for Apple to really shine. Nokia and Blackberry are on the skids, financially speaking, in the mobile realm. Their failures make opportunities for others. The bad news is that google Android is filling in the “opportunity gap” faster than Apple. Economic growth in the world is such that the demand for mid-range smartphones is happening outside of the United States, not in it. Google offers up their mobile operating system for free, which makes it very attractive to those carriers who want to offer a cheaper product to consumers. Asia is taking advantage of the “free” model.
As suspected, iPhone clones are already being created to fill in this gap. China is busy making their “mini iPhones” as you read this. Is it being fulfilled by the real company ? The Wall Street Journal has reported that a mini iPhone is being code named the N97, not to be confused by the Nokia phone of the same nomenclature. The Journal says the “real” mini iPhone will be half the size of an iPhone 4. The screen will reach all the way across and it will have a bargain price. The marked down price will be around $300 dollars.
Back in February the COO of Apple announced that they want their products to be for “everyone, not just the rich”. Android is overflowing the smartphone world and Apple has to do something. The mini iPhone is the tool to save the day, so say analysts.
