With all of the recent sucess of the iPhone, once again Apple is the target of the competition namecalling. Nokia is suing Apple for copyright infringements with the iPhone. Verizon is attacking the iPhone with "we got a map for that" for the larger coverage over AT&T. And now Verizon has teamed up with Motorola and disses all of the "negative" features that the iPhone doesn't have or do with their latest Dune ads. When I first saw these ads, I didn't even know what it was for. The ending was like an ad for a horror flick.
Apple will survive all this. Just like the iPod attacks. The Nokia copyright suit I am sure is a minor one. Maybe Apple will need to pay some minor royalties to Nokia for some menu system etc. Seems a bit late for that kind of lawsuit. The iPhone has been out for quite some time. Maybe it was because of Nokia's poor earnings report.
One surprising thing is that the exlusive AT&T agreement may end mid 2010. Verizon keeps posturing to sell the iPhone, but they don't want to give up everything like AT&T did. With the Apple Apps store instead of their own, Vcast store. It's a big chess game about who makes how much profit in the big deal. Who has more to gain from each other. I am sure Apple will be able to work out a deal, unless Verizon becomes too stuborn again and wants all the chips for themselves. Personally, I would like to see Apple start their own network, or buy one. Seems like Sprint and T-mobile are the only ones left. AllTel got bought by Verizon. They probably have the cash. They could start a new paradime about cell phones are sold. I don't know if the numbers add up, but with Apple profits going like gangbusters, and Verizon's profits slipping I think Apple has the upper hand.
1 comment:
I too can't believe all the negative attacks. On the other hand, the phone market is a hotly contested one, and all the major players run negative ads attacking other players. (Let's not forget the PC-Mac ads that Apple has been running for a few years now - I think we could classify those as somewhat negative!) That Verizon ad is pathetic in that they focus on one thing (3G coverage) and imply Apple has something to do with that, in my opinion. I think we're seeing a lot of iPhone envy right now, and it really started way back in 2007 when the iPhone was first released, and Steve Ballmer had is infamous interview. He always has some pretty negative things to say, but I'll be darned if Microsoft doesn't sooner or later copy Apple exactly! Take the Apple stores - now Microsoft is trying to model their stores in almost exactly the same way as Apple! I was stunned! But Apple is already aware that everyone tries to copy Apple's successful innovations, and they have to keep innovating and keep everyone in their taillights.
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