It's a matter of signaling/conspicuous consumption. People with brand new iPhones have no way of distinguishing themselves from people with the old model.
It's also another way that Apple drives upgrades in the high end: by making the old model look old and dated.
And it's a pretty old model. I agree with you that's a beautiful piece of hardware, and I think it looks better than any of the other models, and better than any of the 'teardrop' mockups. But it's already been in the market for, what, 16 months? If they don't have another refresh until next year, that's a pretty long time to have one chassis.
> It's also another way that Apple drives upgrades in the high end: by making the old model look old and dated.
I also object to that remark attributed to Apple, the computer or smartphone company with the longest model design life cycles.
The vigorous aftermarket for Apple's supposedly "old and dated" models would also suggest demand for Apple's products isn't based on design obsolescence or design cues.
There will be people who upgrade as a signal, but I attribute that to those buyers, not to Apple, whose design innovations seem largely in pursuit of more usable, durable, or lasting product.
I think you over estimate how much apple relies on "making the old model look old and dated".
My 2011 Macbook Pro 15.4 looks remarkably similar to my old 2006 Power PC Powerbook. The 3GS is one of the best selling smart phones on market even though the form factor was set introduced in 2008. There was some compelling analysis a few months ago that made a compelling case that iPhone 4 sales were constrained by the ability to manufacture them.
It's possible I overestimate it. And I don't mean to say that it's their driving motivation or anything. I do think it's some significant part of the calculation.
Laptops are a different market. You have your phone on you all the time so it works much better as a signaling device, and it's only ~$200 to upgrade.
The 3GS sells well at least in part because it's less expensive. The ones you're targeting with design obsolescence are the high end who will pay again for the high end.
I've already seen comments around here to the effect of: "Hm, just an internal spec refresh. Guess I can wait until the iPhone 5."
> But it's already been in the market for, what, 16 months? If they don't have another refresh until next year, that's a pretty long time to have one chassis.
"Next year" is only 8 months this time around. The 3G chassis lasted exactly the same duration, and they're using the 2 year operator contract renewal as their clock: tick for design, tock for specs.
Lucky. In Canada we have 3-year operator contracts. We're always behind in new phone releases.
Apple is very good at making you feel like you are using an obsolete piece of equipment.
On the other hand, they release iOS5 around the time the 3-year contracts for the 3G expire, so it's a good bit of planning (or coincidence) on their part.
> It's a matter of signaling/conspicuous consumption... it's already been in the market for, what, 16 months?
Counterpoint: Movado Museum Watch[1]. Latest fashion goes out of style. Great design becomes timeless[2] because it's not "simply an adjective to place in front of a product’s name to somehow artificially enhance its value."[3]
I don't think it works that way with tech products, because an outdated smartphone is considerably less functional than a cutting-edge one. I.e. there's a functional aspect to the desire that goes beyond fashion, or maybe fuses the two. Or are you implying that it will ever be fashionable to use an technologically outdated phone because the design is nice? (I could see it in some tiny contrarian subset of the population, but not as a general phenomenon.)
You're right about the internals, but this discussion was about external design cues. Even so, to the casual user (the majority), software use on iPhone 4 will not be "considerably less functional" than on the iPhone 4S so in this case an external cue would not signal any particularly important functional change.
I don't think that is Apple's marketing strategy at all. Apple products are no longer about exclusivity, people buy them because they are good. They've marketed the 'Just works' and it has reached the ears of many generations.
My father bought an Ipad 2 the other day, no real reason apart from they 'are good for browsing email'.
If you notice Apple's design timeline they keep the same design for a number of iterations on a product. If they were still about the exclusivity marketing game they would be releasing new colours and names and designs every year.
> But it's already been in the market for, what, 16 months? If they don't have another refresh until next year, that's a pretty long time to have one chassis.
It's also another way that Apple drives upgrades in the high end: by making the old model look old and dated.
And it's a pretty old model. I agree with you that's a beautiful piece of hardware, and I think it looks better than any of the other models, and better than any of the 'teardrop' mockups. But it's already been in the market for, what, 16 months? If they don't have another refresh until next year, that's a pretty long time to have one chassis.