iPhone 6 Plus

iPad mini 3 is skating on thin ice

Posted on by tom30133f14

The iPad Mini could soon be obsolete due to the new and exciting iPhone 6 plus. Apple users have been waiting for a phone that could match the size of the current Androids in the market. However, the arrival of the iPhone 6 plus has impacted the future of the iPad mini. Although, Apple has just released the new and improved iPad mini 3, this does not mean that there will one day be a fourth.

Sales
Apple is in the business of making money just like everyone else. According to Motley Fool of Nasdaq.com, “Apple’s iPad sales have suddenly declined in the past two quarters after phenomenal growth in the first four years of the product category’s life.” Customers were originally purchasing the iPad due to its large screen size and favorable portability versus a laptop. Since phones have increased in screen size, customers have been purchasing these phones and leaving their iPads at home. The fact that iPad sales have declined in the past two quarters is something that Apple will take note of and forecast for in the future.

Product Life Cycle
In my opinion, I would say that the iPad mini is just entering the decline stage of the product life cycle. New iPad minis are lacking product differentiation. Apple has released the iPad Air and I strongly believe that this will be the future for Apple as far as tablet computing goes. Additionally, iPad sales have declined and releasing an iPhone 6 plus close to the size of an iPad mini will only discourage customers to purchase the iPad mini since the iPhone 6 plus has comparable size. The iPad Air is a much larger tablet than the iPad Mini and this gives it a huge size advantage over the iPhone 6 plus.

iphone 6 plus ipad mini 3

Performance
The iPhone 6 plus actually has a faster A8 processing chip while the iPad mini 3 has an A7 processing chip. This means that the iPhone 6 plus will run faster and more efficient. The iPhone 6 plus is also equipped with the M8 motion coprocessor, which is much superior to the M7 motion coprocessor of the iPad mini 3. The iPhone 6 plus has to take the edge as far as performance goes due to its upgraded specifications.

Operations
Since sales are declining for iPads, Apple will have to adjust their inventory and forecasts for the future to make sure they are not making too many. We learned in class that having excess product and not enough demand is a huge negative for a company. Finally, Apple will have to make the decision on whether or not to discontinue the iPad mini depending on what stage of the product life cycle it is in.

Some questions to think about:

  1. Would you rather use an iPhone 6 plus over an iPad mini 3?
  2. What stage of the product life cycle do you think the iPad mini 3 is in?
  3. Should Apple discontinue the iPad mini 3?

Sources:

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/the-ipad-minis-days-may-be-numbered-cm404777

http://www.cnet.com/news/why-i-prefer-the-iphone-6-over-the-6-plus-apps/

http://www.apple.com/

http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2014/10/18/will-the-apple-iphone-6-plus-kill-the-ipad-mini-3.aspx

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2014/10/04/can-iphone-6-plus-replace-your-ipad-mini-with-retina/

 

 

Introducing iPhone 6’s new shape: Bent

Posted on by jolan30131f14

Apple reveals iPhone 6 sales

With the recent introduction of the new iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, there has been a lot of controversy over one of the characteristics that constitutes its quality.  Both the new iPhones are a lot larger than the iPhone 5, but also a lot thinner. The current trend is moving towards thinner everything, so you might think this is great idea to create a thin iPhone. That is, until you realize that this feature can also turn awry.  As it turns out, in just the first 6 days, 9 customers complained about the iPhone bending from being carried in the back pocket.

For a prominent company such as Apple, which is known for their quality products, these news are terrible. Some might say that 9 is a very low number of instances comparing to the 10 million they sold. But, the publicity this issue is getting can drastically decrease the sales of the new iPhone, and its future products.

 

A company such as apple puts its products through so many different quality control checks, before they reach the market. Employees and machines, at different points in the process have to check the quality before it can move onto the next task. Apparently though, as mentioned in the statement by Apple, “Testing of the phones did not show any problems with bending or warping. IPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus meet or exceed all of the high quality standards to endure everyday, real life use.” Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe this issue never came up. Sometimes people overlook quality issues hoping someone else will catch them. And sometimes, it is just too costly to point out quality issues. If a product is already in production with an announced deadline of introduction, a design issue will cause a delay and an additional budget to fix the issue. This will create a bad reputation for the company. However, so will a bad quality product.

 

Releasing a statement that confirms the product has successfully gone through three-point-bending test, a sit test etc., does not fix the issue. Unfortunately the person, who has had their iPhone bent, might not be as happy with the company as he previously had been. And we all know, that the best form of advertising is from friends and family. If your friend has it and it is performing well, you want it. But, the same goes for when your friend has it and its not that great. Then, your opinion of it changes as well. Unfortunately, this may cause Apple to lose lots of loyal clients, and tons of sales.

 

What do you think about the bent iPhone?

Did you purchase the new iPhone? If so, any issues with bending?

Does this change your perspective on apple?

Will you continue purchasing apple products?

 

 

Arthur, Charles. “‘Bending’ IPhone 6.” The Guardian. N.p., 25 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.