Steve Jobs, co-founder and chief executive officer of U.S. computer technology manufacturer Apple, has a reputation as a “God” of public relations and marketing. But even “Gods” sometimes experience difficulties.
For the first time in Jobs’ career, Apple shares went down right after the presentation of a new product.
Officially presented on June 7 and slated to hit store shelves later this month, the new iPhone 4 is an improvement on its predecessors, but it has failed to bring revolutionary changes – as the first iPhone did three years ago when it first took the market by storm.
It simply does not introduce as many new technologies or services. What’s more, Apple’s newest iPhone no longer stands alone as it did three years ago. It now has many rivals, including a myriad of Android phones produced by almost all top players of the market, such as Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG and HTC.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds the new iPhone 4 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 7 in San Francisco. (AP)
In presenting the new gadget, Jobs described it as “gorgeous.” That’s what he does each time he appears on the stage of Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, where Apple presents its new products. This time, his speech could be described as “too much ado about nothing.”
The new iPhone has only one feature that can be envied by Apple competitors. It’s the truly fantastic screen with the highest resolution on the market. However, it’s built with IPS technology, already used by Apple in the iPad, and definitely has lower image quality than AMOLED technology offered by Samsung.
AMOLED screens can be found in HTC devices, such as the famous Google Nexus One, and, of course, in phones built by Samsung. The South Korean electronics giant now has even more superior technology which is called Super AMOLED. Nevertheless, the iPhone 4 has higher screen resolution which makes it more comfortable for web surfing, gaming and reading.
Other features highlighted by Jobs could hardly be called revolutionary. The frontal camera for video calls can be found in many Nokia and Sony Ericsson mobile phone from the last five years or so. And iPhone 4 allows video calls only in a Wi-Fi network, while its competitors allow this in 3G networks.
With its new software, the iPhone finally catches up with most smart phones on the market by boosting its multi-tasking capabilities. Also, the five megapixel camera offered by the iPhone 4 is no surprise at all. Most producers are already putting eight megapixel cameras in their phones. Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung already have phones with 12 megapixel cameras.
As for video recording capabilities, the iPhone 4 is no winner again. There are about a dozen of other models on the market that can record video in HD (high definition) quality.
Jobs claims that “Apple invented tap to focus feature” (a function that allows you to choose a focusing point when making a photo by touching any point on the screen with your finger), but that’s not true. This function was introduced a couple of years ago by Sony Ericsson and is now used in HTC and Samsung phones.
On the bright side, the new iPhone will be much faster than its predecessors. It is powered by a powerful A4 processor, the same used in the iPad. At the same time, Jobs promises that the iPhone 4 will last longer than iPhone 3GS without breaking down.
Many Apple fans claim the new iPhone’s design to be very strange. Some of them say it doesn’t look like a gadget made by Apple. At the same time, the unusual decision to cover the back of the phone with a glassy plastic cover makes the iPhone 4 unique. Apple claims that it is rock solid, stronger than sapphire. That’s good news because many users were disappointed with the cheap plastic used in previous iPhone 3GS, which could be easily scratched.
All in all, Apple has made a strong effort to improve its “Jesus phone” and one could hardly deny that the iPhone 4 is one of the best smartphones on the market. But there are many decent competitors, so the future might not look as bright as Jobs sees it.
Kyiv Post staff writer Alexey Bondarev can be reached at [email protected].
