Apple iPhone 5S and 5C on Tuesday September 10th 2013 is to Go Global to beat Samsung

The Apple iPhone 5S and Apple iPhone 5C launched as expected as announced in the following articles:

1.      “Apples introduces two iPhone models”, published Tuesday, September 10, 2013 2:51 PM, The Jamaica Observer

2.      “Apple launches iPhone 5S and $99 iPhone 5C with five colors”, published September 10, 2013 10:24 AM PDT by Shara Tibken, CNET News

3.      “Apple announces the iPhone 5S with Touch ID fingerprint sensor, and world’s first 64-bit processor”, published September 10, 2013 By Andy Boxall, DigitalTrends 

Trust me when I say this, I haven’t felt this excited about anything from Apple in quite awhile as can be seen from flurry of blog articles coming out on my blog, even on the Geezam blog entitled “Apple’s Golden Dragon iPhone 5S and C for Caring iPhone 5C may be coming on Tuesday September 10th 2013”.

This is with an aim to boost smartphone sales with a cheaper plastic variant that’s tailor made for China as predicted in my blog article entitled “Apple's Invite confirms Apple iPhone event on Tuesday September 10 2013 - Expecting News on the Apple iWatch, iRadio, Apple TV and Apple Video Game Console”.

Apple iPhone 5S and Apple iPhone 5C – Apple Going Global in a big way

Apple’s launching Pre-orders for both the Apple iPhone 5S and the Apple iPhone 5C globally on Friday September 13^th 2013, which is either good luck or bad luck, whichever way you wish to interpret the news. For the Chinese, it’s a good omen, as 13 is an odd number and thus perceived to be Lucky.

Lucky indeed, especially as they’ve gotten the go-ahead from China Mobile, the largest Telecom Provider in China as stated in “Apple Secures License For iPhone To Run On China Mobile’s Network Standard”, published September 11 2013 by Catherine Shu, TechCrunch. Both Apple iPhones go on sale on Friday September 20^th 2013 in the following countries:

1.      Australia

2.      Canada

3.      China

4.      France

5.      Germany

6.      Hong Kong

7.      Japan

8.      Puerto Rico

9.      Singapore

10.  UK

11.  USA

As per usual, if you choose the traditional long lines and sleeping outside the store, you can save a few bucks by trading in your older Apple iPhone and get a new one at a reduced price. This means that the older models are also getting a price cut, with the Apple iPhone 4S now completely free on a 2-year contract as stated in the article “Remember the iPhone 4S? Apple makes it an 8GB freebie”, published September 10, 2013 1:26 PM PDT by Roger Cheng, CNET News. 

Interestingly too, Apple has decided to make it versions of iWorks, the content creation suite of software for the Apple iPhone, which usually costs US$10, free when you purchase a new Apple iPhone 5S as stated in the article “Apple Makes iWork apps free, but only if you buy a new iPhone 5S or 5C”, published September 10, 2013 By K. T. Bradford, DigitalTrends.

But a few things are different in terms of specs and sales details as predicted in my blog article entitled “Apple to launch the Apple iPhone 5S and a S$199 Contract-less Apple iPhone 5C on Tuesday September 10 2013 - ATL and LIME Jamaica may not get Goldfinger that's Made for China”.

These differences are fortunately, geared at creating a good balance between the two (2) Apple iPhones so as to not cannibalize each other’s sales yet allow Apple to regain traction against cheaper Google Android smartphones both in the US and Developing Countries like China as opined in my Geezam blog entitled “Apple’s Golden Dragon iPhone 5S and C for Caring iPhone 5C may be coming on Tuesday September 10th 2013”.

Apple iPhone 5C – Barbie Girl in a Barbie World, Happy Plastic

First is the fact that the two (2) smartphones are exactly alike, save for the fact that the Apple iPhone 5C has a less powerful A6 Processor and a polycarbonate Plastic Shell as declared in the article “The C is for ‘Cheap-ish’: iPhone 5C starts at $100”, published September 10, 2013 By Jeffrey Van Camp, DigitalTrends. 

The specs for the Apple iPhone 5C are as follows:

1.      Processor: Dual-core A6 processor

2.      Operating System: iOS 7

3.      Screen size: 4.0 inches

4.      Storage Options: 16GB or 32GB

5.      Connection : 4G LTE

6.      Cameras: 1.2MP front camera, 8MP iSight rear camera (3x video zoom)

7.      Battery life: 250 hours on standby, 40 hours of music playing,  10 hours of 3G talk time, 10 hours of LTE (Long Term Evolution) or Wi-Fi

Yes, believe it or not, the Apple iPhone 5C is also being made for the US Market too and is available on Telecom Provider AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint. It comes in a limited rainbow of colours that varied enough to please even the Apple Fanboys who must love the colours:

1.      Blue

2.      Red

3.      Yellow

4.      Green

5.      White

Interestingly, the Apple iPhone 5S, like its more expensive cousin, is also on a 2 year Contract Plan in the US of A. So the flat unlocked no-contract price I was expecting, especially as unlocked phones are becoming unpopular and unlocking phones is still illegal in the US of A as stated in my blog article entitled “Librarian of the Library of Congress makes smartphone unlocking Illegal - How Jamaica can benefit from the Safe Haven of MNP by banning unlocking of smarphones and Tablets”.

Thus the may not be as low as I’d expected, even on a 2-year Data Contract in the US of A:

1.      US$100 for the 16GB model

2.      US$200 for the 32GB model

Apple iPhone 5S – Better Security, Improved Camera and 64-bit A7 Processor

I’d be interested to find out the price of an unlocked Apple iPhone 5C. As for it gilded cousin the Apple iPhone 5S, yes it is indeed gilded, there more than just a colour change. The Apple iPhone 5S has some unique features that’ll please the security conscious among us wary of losing our iPhones.

The specs for the Apple iPhone 5S are as follows:

1.      Processor: 64-bit A7 processor

2.      Operating System: iOS 7

3.      Screen size: 4.0 inches

4.      Storage Options: 16GB,  32GB or 64GB

5.      Connection : 4G LTE

6.      Cameras: 1.2MP front camera, 8MP iSight rear camera (3x video zoom)

7.      Battery life: 250 hours on standby, 40 hours of music playing,  10 hours of 3G talk time, 10 hours of LTE (Long Term Evolution) or Wi-Fi

More choices exist in the colours too, aside from the traditional Black and White:

1.      Gold

2.      Space Grey

3.      Silver

Prices for the various models on 2 Year contract on all of the four (4) major Carriers in the US of A are as follows:

1.      US$199 for 16BG model

2.      US$299 for 32GB model

3.      US$399 for 64GB model

The first is Touch ID, a fingerprint reader built into the ring around the Home button of the Apple iPhone 5S as described in “iPhone 5S comes with Touch ID fingerprint scanner”, published September 10, 2013 11:04 AM PDT by Seth Rosenblatt, CNET News and “Apple wants your fingers! iPhone 5S to include ‘Touch ID’ for fingerprint reading”, published September 10, 2013 By Joshua Sherman, DigitalTrends

It's a capacitive fingerprint sensor that's 170 microns thin, has a 500 ppi (Pixels per Inch) resolution and can scan in 360 degrees that’s built by Authentec, a Biometric component designer that specializes in this type of tech that Apple had acquired back in July 2012  as stated in “Apple buys mobile security firm AuthenTec for $356 million”, published Friday July 27, 2012 7:03pm EDT By Poornima Gupta and Sinead Carew, Reuters. 

This replaces the need for iPhone users to have a password which many actually don’t put on their iPhones, despite paying so much to acquire one. The Touch ID is not only just to unlock the Apple iPhone but will eventually be used as a means to access your Apple iTunes Library and other accounts.  As well as being part of Apple verification and authentication process, it may wind up being a part of the processing of payments on its Apple services i.e. using your fingerprint instead of entering your name .

Interestingly too, as a side note, you can’t use someone’s dead fingers to unlock the Touch ID as it’s designed to recognize if the person’s alive or not as stated in “Apple’s iPhone 5S could have a fingerprint scanner – and we want that why?”, published July 30, 2013 By Andrew Couts, DigitalTrends. Also for the paranoid about Apple and the NSA (National Security Agency) getting a hold of your fingerprints, Apple states that none of the fingerprint Data is stored in iCloud; all of it is stored locally in your phone.

That’s not very comforting either, as methods exist to get info from the phone without having to unlock it using the new Home Button Touch ID Fingerprint reader.  But it points to an interesting trend; the need to use passwords to access services, particularly premium services is dying a slow death as Biometric methods are slowly coming of age to replace the need to have passwords.

One example of such is research being done by the UC Berkeley School of Information into using what are called PassThoughts, passwords based on EEG reading of your Alpha and Beta waves as stated in my blog article entitled “UC Berkeley School of Information research Passthoughts as Passwords - The Matris Frees you Mind with Johnny Mnemonic unhackable password”. More on this trend in another blog article!

The Apple iPhone 5s is also sporting an improved 64-bit A7 Processor that 40 times faster than the A6 Processor. 64-Bit Processing is only seen PC’s and is a first in a smartphone, essentially making the Apple iPhone the first in its class. Interestingly too, Apple has offloaded the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass functionality from the A7 Processor onto a new M7 Co-Processor to better handle these capabilities.

The 8Megapixel Camera is also much improved with a new technology called iSight that come with the some super cool features:

1.      15% larger CCD (Charge Coupled Device) Sensor, which will allow more light for better pictures

2.      5 element Photo lens

3.      A burst mode for capturing 20 photos in two seconds

4.      A slow motion setting where videos can be shot at 12fps in 720p

5.      Auto image stabilization

6.      Dual LED (Light Emitting Diode) with a Technology Apple calls True Tone ; one LED for capturing cooler tones, and the other for warmer colors.

7.      f2.2 aperture

Apple claims that it's a world first, as it's able to capture the best picture by utilizing 1000 variations of flash intensity and timing. A sure boon to many a photographer, I’m sure, as this take the technicality out of taking photographs. Truly, anyone can now become a great photographer both in daytime and nighttime.

Apple continuing improvement of the camera technology instead of just adding more megapixels is testament to their innovative spirit in their drive to make photography the main reason to choose an Apple iPhone for your Camera and Video Work.

Apple iPhone Global Strategy – Go global to beat Samsung

Apple improvements are incremental at best, but sensible in the long term. Apple realizes that if it’s to hold on to its customer base and expand into new markets, it has to change its strategy. Thus they’ve made multiple multi-coloured cheaper variants of the Apple iPhone to please the varying tastes of the Developing World, the last Frontier that’s yet to taste the Apple.

They also need a new strategy as they are facing lower cost variants in the form of Open Source Mobile OS such as Tizen OS from Samsung, Ubuntu OS from Canonical and Firefox OS from the Mozilla Corporation as predicted in my blog article entitled “Samsung's Tizen OS, Mozilla Foundation's Firefox OS and Canonical's Ubuntu OS to launch by Fourth Quarter of 2013 - David Guetta's Titanium Pacific RIM Robots to Battle Google Android”.

I’m not sure if this’ll be enough. The Apple iPhone 5C may be a bit cheaper, but if it’s not below US$99 unlocked without a 2-year contract, it may gain little traction in the Developing World, especially as sans the 2 year contract it costs US$549 as stated in the article “Apple's iPhone 5C misses the low-cost mark”, published September 10, 2013 3:24 PM PDT by Shara Tibken, CNET News! Plus personally I’m disappointed that there were no more announcements with regards to other product, such as the Apple iTV or the Apple Television Set or even the newly redesigned Apple Mac Computer.

Still, it’s good to know that we here in Jamaica can get a bite of the Apple soon enough after Friday September 20^th 2013, as we now have ATL (Appliance Traders Limited) as Apple’s Official representative for all things Apple in Jamaica as stated in my blog article entitled “ATL is now the Official Distributor of Apple Product in Jamaica as of July 2013 - Jamaica can now share in the innovation with Apple’s Future Products Despicable Me 2”!