Has the iPhone lost its cool factor?

I never thought it was "cool". For me, I use an iPhone because it fits my needs and does everything I need it to. Also, going by the sales numbers, the iPhone is still a top seller. To be honest, I don't see what the iPhone going to prepaid has to do with its cool factor. Truth is, many people have been using a unlocked GSM iPhone on T-Mobiles PP service for years, so I am sure Apple has fully thought out the advantages of offering the iPhone to their prepaid based customers.

 

I don't think this is going to hurt either of the major wireless providers for the main reason I posted in another thread, as well as just your basic coverage issues. Does Cricket even have good service everywhere that Verizon and AT&T does? Then there's the cost factor in all off this. If people are on prepaid due to budget constraints, are they really going to have the $500. needed just to get the iPhone? I think it will sell, but I don't think it's going to take many customers away from Verizon or AT&T.

Are you saying that 80% of iPhone customers are using one simply because they think it's cool? If so, I would have to disagree here based on the number of businesses alone who recently left RIM and Blackberry for the iPhone. I think most people use an iPhone because it works and not because they just think it's cool. You're always going to have what I like to call "Blind followers" that will use a phone no matter which platform it is on regardless of whether it meets their needs or not, however, I think given the fact that the iPhone has been out more than 5 years most people have gotten past viewing it as just a cool phone to have.....

 

The numbers I'm thinking of are much different. I'm see 5/95 given the fact that the majority of users who have used and keep coming back to the iPhone every year do so because it just works and Apple knows this, which is probably why they can get away with not changing the design of the iPhone for 2 years and still have a large percent of their users return year after year. I do believe there was a time when people bought the iPhone simply because they thought it was cool, however, given the fact that it is not very customizable and the design of it not changing over the years, and yet large numbers of customers still continue to buy one says they do so for more reasons than the cool factor.

But, hey, like you said, there hasn't been any scientific study done to support either one of our numbers, so who knows which one of our guesses would be correct.

 

I get what the author is saying, and that's basically that the "honeymoon" is kind of over for the iPhone. It's been around 5 years now and you can get it by pretty much every carrier. And while the media hype is still there, it seems to be waning a bit as well (do we really need a media bliz every time a new variant of the phone is released?)

Of course people buy phones for various reasons, some for the "cool" factor, some for more practical reasons. I think the main reason the iPhone is still holding traction in the middle-ground is because alot of people know it by name now.

A short example: My kid was playing with some other kids on the street last week, and he was showing off a new app he installed on his SonyEricsson Xperia phone. One 10 year old girl came up to him and asked him "Is that an iPhone?", he said "No, it's an Android" the girl just looked at him kind of blank-faced and said "I don't know what that is". And I think that's kind of a microcosm in a way of today's average phone consumer. They go in a phone store and don't know what the other phone's are about, but they know the iPhone by name. Kind of like scooters. There's plenty of scooters out there, but when people walk in a store they ask for a "Razor" scooter, because that's the one they heard of.

 

WARNING: There are some choice words in the clip that may disagree with you.

Kind of like [video=youtube;FL7yD-0pqZg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg[/video], right?

 

IMO, no. When Apple announces the newest version, insanity will break out. Just as it has with all prior versions. It's a great phone, regardless whether people like it or not. If the iPhone's share of the market drops precipitously, then I'd say Apple should be concerned. Until then (if ever), it's a cool phone. And so are all the awesome Android devices out there, (again, IMO).

 

I agree with you 100%. People know what works for them and the customer service that goes along with any Apple product is second to none. That is why people have kept coming back to the iPhone year after year, and the reason why sales go up with every new iPhone that comes out. With the rumored larger screen, better processor and unbreakable front glass, as well as LTE finally!, I think this years iPhone will see record breaking sales numbers.