Apple hopes to win market with iPhone 5 c cheaper

In early September, Tim Cook will rise to a darkened stage and will start the annual tradition of Apple: present your latest iPhone.
It became a known procedure. Get a glittering rectangle with rounded corners; Add a faster chip and a few new features; Let the hype hype boil over low heat; sale dazzled customers.
The iPhone created the Smartphone market and became the flagship of Apple, responsible for revenue of $ 18 billion in the last quarter.
But despite the tens of millions of iPhones sold, Apple continues to lose market share to Google's Android. Many questioned the importance of it, since Apple is still pocketing the bulk of profits in the sector.
Apple seems to have come to the conclusion that is important, Yes. This year, changed his position. Cook will present two new phones: the iPhone 5S, an iPhone 5 modernized, and another, that rumors Center dubbed iPhone 5 c.
"Is the biggest turnaround in the iPhone product line for a long period," says Wayne Lam, an analyst at IHS.
What does the C represents in 5 c? There is not a single post, but the appliance will be cheaper ("cheaper", in English), more colorful and designed to succeed in the Chinese market. The product also raises questions about whether Apple will keep the cold blood to target the iPhone to segments of lower purchasing power of the market and allows us to understand how Cook's running Apple. In view of this, the following are five ' Cs ' of what, for lack of a better name, let's call it iPhone 5 c.
The iPhone has always been seen as the product of the first category, cost about $ 200, with a long-term contract, or $ 650 without him. Despite the rise of Samsung and other competing products, cheaper, its average selling price remained stable over the past six years, what constitutes a notable feat.
But, to the extent that slows down the pace of revenue growth of Apple and where the penetration in developed markets exceeds 50%, Cook acknowledged that it needs a cheap device to release the next batch of customers worldwide. This is particularly important in emerging markets, where monthly subscriptions that allow carriers to subsidize the initial cost of the appliance are less common.
At the time the Apple iPod line expands to include the mini, the nano and the ' shuffle ' (random), the latest iPhones will be available soon in two price levels. Apple was surprised by the persistent success of iPhones 4 and 4S, which are cheaper, or free, if accompanied by a contract. The 5 c should replace them, standardizing on the 4-inch screen and making "bright". Maybe there are sacrifices in regard to the quality of the plastic box, instead of glass and aluminium, but few predict that the device will no longer have basic software and services, such as voice control Siri.
Apple watchers are divided around the degree of price drop of an iPhone "cheap". Benedict Evans of Enders Analysis, said it is necessary a price of $ 200 to $ 300 so that the product is truly mass market, selling more than 10 million units and fend off the competitive threat posed by rival with Android system.
But others predict a much higher price. UBS and Morgan Stanley, for example, suggest $ 399 and Citi, no less than $ 450.
This perspective encouraged Wall Street. After fear a blow to its profitability, analysts now believe the gross margin of 5 c can be of at least 38%, above the average for the Apple of 36.9% conglomerate, computed in the latest quarter.
The product is intended for the general public, price would be between $ 200 and $ 300, say analysts
Evans says that higher price will make a most up-to-date technology in 5 c, but that change will be more "evolutionary than revolutionary".
Since your stripes logo of the 70 until the iMacs of the candy store of the end of the Decade of 90, Apple has always been a colorful tag. But, so far, the iPhone has been a case of monochrome, primarily in black, with the addition of white in 2011. Supply chain leaks suggest that the iPhone 5 c is the moment of Technicolor plastic boxes red, yellow or blue. To give you an idea of possible palette, see the updated version of the last year of the iPod Touch.
Will be launched at the same time that the new hearing the latest version of iPhone software, iOS 7, a new radical project headed by Sir Jonathan Ive. In addition to the new animations and gestures, the most surprising feature of iOS 7 is your colour scheme of brightly colored icons and backgrounds immaculately white.
"The color was always very important" in the market of mobile devices, says Carolina Milanesi, Gartner. "After all, the phone does not cease to be an accessory."
After several years in which most manufacturers mimicked black and white box, HTC and Nokia have launched now cellphones more colorful, although neither company has had huge success with them.
Carolina Milanesi says consumers are getting tired of dull colors, but claims that the last time that mobile phones have Rainbow colors-like the pink Razr from Motorola, in the mid-2000, it was a time of relatively small technical innovation. "One might think: we're coming back to colors because there's nothing more than that?" she says.
Despite selling a cheaper iPhone, analysts say that Apple will be reluctant to compromise its image of "cool". The iPhone 5 c should compete with middle-range devices such as Samsung's Galaxy S4 Mini or One Mini from HTC, which aren't exactly cheap appliances.
"It's not in the interest of Apple shoot for lower range," says Lam, IHS. "Lower the price, but keep the feeling of the first category of the brand is essential for your global marketing strategy."
Cook said often that Apple won't push for market share for its intrinsic advantages, preferring, instead, continue sweeping their clients and ensuring that can charge a good profit for doing this.
But application developers pay attention, Yes, to the participation of market when they decide where to sell their products. Most users of the 800 million Android devices lower assets less applications that the 250 million iPhone customers, says Evans of Enders. But the sheer scale is making Google appliances a higher priority.
"This is a strategic threat for Apple," says Evans. "A key selling argument for the iPhone is the fact that the best apps to the iPhone and being first on the iPhone."
This represents a difficult balancing exercise to Apple: charge enough to make the product continue appealing to desires of the majority of consumers, and, at the same time, make the iPhone 5 c affordable enough to increase the market share for Apple.
Promote this balance is the biggest test that Cook's leadership has had to win so far. "This shows the way in which Apple is adapting to the market," says Lam. "the company was, for a long period, trainer of tastes. Now that the market has matured, Apple has to adapt. "
Have check the launch of 5 c is pragmatism or commitment, but Cook is adamant about the focus on quality. "Our guideline is always offer great products, and not ' how to achieve a certain level of price '. This guideline has always been beneficial for us. I think it will continue to be, "he said at the Symposium of Goldman Sachs performed in San Francisco this year.