Apple and U2 (image: Apple.com)
Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week's Apple Loop looks forward to the iPhone 6 vs Galaxy S6 rumble, the 'failure' of the Apple Watch, Tim Cook the alchemist, iPhone 6 sales and market share in China, the return of Launcher, iOS 8.2?s secret app, and the undeletable apps.
Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the very many discussionsthat have happened around Apple over the last seven days (and you canreadourweekly digest of Android newshere on Forbes).
Can The iPhone 6 Defeat The Galaxy S6?
The big topic of conversation over the next month will be the launch of the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S6. With Samsung's marketing budget and market share, it's the Android device most likely to challenge the supremacy of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus in terms of unit sales and market share.
Gordon Kelly has taken a closer look at the two challengers from each side in 2015to find out just how close this fight is going to be.
With the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung has seemingly done the unthinkable and ditched its trademark plastic finish for the same aluminium unibody appearance as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. They also now feature glass backs.
The positive here is this puts Samsung right up with Apple in the design and build quality stakes. The negative is the switches meanSamsung has had to compromise on its earlier principles: no removable back, no removable battery and no expandable storage.
If you're coming from an iPhone then the fuss about this will baffle you, but to hardcore Samsung owners the loss of these features - plus the water resistance of the S5 - is an outrage. As such Samsung is clearly desperate to win new iPhone customers, possibly at the expense of some of its existing users.
Kelly's detailed examination of the issues, topic by topic,can be read here on Forbes.
Apple Trade-In Program Targets Galaxy S6 Sales
Anyone who bought a Samsung Galaxy S4 as it went on sale will be coming up on the end of their contract. Samsung would naturally like them to move to the Galaxy S6, but I'm sure Apple would be happy to have some conversions. So the timing of Apple's 'trade-in' scheme being extended to include Android handsets is pure co-incidence.Forbes' Parmy Olson:
If the trade-in programlaunches before the S6 even goes on sale, that could be a problem for Samsung. Itmeans Applecan suddenly catch current owners of the Samsung Galaxy S5 in that crucial, decisive moment when they choose to upgrade to their next phone, giving many a greater incentive to switch to Apple and the iPhone 6... There could be a real risk for Samsung now, since itsturnaround in flagging smartphone saleslargely rests on the success of theS6.
Co-incidence, or another astute tactical move from Tim Cook? You decide.
An Apple employee demonstrates how to use an Apple Watch AFP PHOT / JOSH EDELSON (Photo credit should read Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)
I Hope The Apple Watch Is A 'Failure'
With the Apple Watch set to be released next month, I'm intrigued at the critical reception the wearable is going to receive. With previous 'breakthrough' products from Apple the reception has been rather more negative than the forthcoming sales would suggest.I'm expecting the same backlash to happen again:
Allof these articles will be factually correct.I'll agree with the conclusions of all of them. And it will be hard, logically, to argue against the written premises that the Apple Watch has somehow failed. In a world of snap judgements, I'm pretty confident on this call. I'm also confident that it will be thewrong judgement to make.
Apple has had failures before. It has had products that have come off the stageto meet an eager audience only to be written off as a failure scant months later.And while that label may fit in the first few months you can be sure that the Apple Watch is going to follow the same trajectory to success as other failed Apple product lines towards a long and successful life.
Join me for a look back at some ofApple's most successful 'failures'and start filling in your bingo card for the Apple Watch coverage.
How Tim The Alchemist Will Change The World
Earlier this week I tackled one of the questions that continues to circle around Apple's Tim Cook... what is it that he wants to achieve? In my mindCook is aiming incredibly high and is hoping to become the world's greatest alchemist:
What has Tim Cook achieved? Philosophically he has managed to place Apple at every major intersection of life. He has placed his physical agents of change exactly where they need to be. For what purpose? To make the world a better place, to use technology to create a better society; to redefine how the human race interacts with technology; and perhaps attempting to alter the course of human evolution.
While everyone else is selling smartphones, Tim Cook is doing something more akin to alchemy. He is acting as an agent of social change, he is pouring his mercury into every corner of humanity, and he is comfortable in his role as an agent provocateur. The iPhone is not just the primary symbol of Apple, but each iPhone is a symbol of its owner. By driving material change through each iPhone, Cook can drive social change through each owner, and drive material change on society.
It's probably better if you followthe full chain of thought to understand just how ambitious, and how possible, this outcome is.
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