Musing on Apple 2013

[frahse]

I just noticed over in CNET that the HTC One Max display will be 5.9 inches, which is pretty darn big.

Then I have also seen some rumors that Apple is going to announce a larger screen for its Smartphones.

Would they jump from 4" to 5"?

Whoa! That would make Steve Jobs upset.

You would have to get someone like Andre the Giant to find a thumb big enough to actuate these size touch screen easily.

[Jessica Lares]

Researching isn't the same thing as doing. I don't think Apple will go bigger than 4".

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

Researching isn't the same thing as doing. I don't think Apple will go bigger than 4".

I forecast 75% within 2 years, 4.3 (common size) to 5. inch.
If not, then 3 years, 90%.

[frahse]

It must be tough for Apple to become a trend follower rather than a trend setter.

Originally Posted by frahse

I just noticed over in CNET that the HTC One Max display will be 5.9 inches, which is pretty darn big.

Then I have also seen some rumors that Apple is going to announce a larger screen for its Smartphones.

Would they jump from 4" to 5"?

Whoa! That would make Steve Jobs upset.

You would have to get someone like Andre the Giant to find a thumb big enough to actuate these size touch screen easily.

That is way too big for a carry around phone, and not big enough for a primary tablet. I cannot imagine carrying around a phone that is almost as big as my Kindle Paperwhite! TBH, my iPhone 5 in its Otterbox Defender case is as big as I would want for a phone. And I would want any tablet to be at least 7". A 5.9" device just seems to me to be in the middle of no where!

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

Researching isn't the same thing as doing. I don't think Apple will go bigger than 4".

The same was said about 3.5". Market pressure is the key here, if they're losing customers to other manufacturers based on their stubbornness to stick to "one size fits all" mentality, then maybe they'll have to move with the times and offer a larger screen size or maybe, God forbid, a choice to customers between 2 or more sizes.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by jswinden

That is way too big for a carry around phone, and not big enough for a primary tablet. I cannot imagine carrying around a phone that is almost as big as my Kindle Paperwhite! TBH, my iPhone 5 in its Otterbox Defender case is as big as I would want for a phone. And I would want any tablet to be at least 7". A 5.9" device just seems to me to be in the middle of no where!

I also find 5.9" too large, but there is a market for these phones - the Note was ridiculed when it came out, but now phablets are a significant portion of the market and we have the top manufacturers offering some variant of a phablet, with the exception of Moto (though rumour is they have one in the works). There seems to be more interest in Asian countries though, and I also see some bias towards the female population for these phablets.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by afv011

...and I also see some bias towards the female population for these phablets.

They have purses

Originally Posted by afv011

I also find 5.9" too large, but there is a market for these phones - the Note was ridiculed when it came out, but now phablets are a significant portion of the market and we have the top manufacturers offering some variant of a phablet, with the exception of Moto (though rumour is they have one in the works). There seems to be more interest in Asian countries though, and I also see some bias towards the female population for these phablets.

Probably because they often carry a purse, so a larger phone is no problem. A small tablet I can understand being popular, but a huge phone is another story. I certainly wouldn't want a brick on my belt or in my pocket all day long!

[afv011]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Probably because they often carry a purse, so a larger phone is no problem. A small tablet I can understand being popular, but a huge phone is another story. I certainly wouldn't want a brick on my belt or in my pocket all day long!

It really depends on your use case, you might not have a need, but somebody who carries a tablet and a phone because the phone is not comfortable to do whatever they do on the tablet, can replace both with a phablet. And the pen on the Note, for certain uses, makes that even more compelling. Phablets are not for everybody, but as said, there's clearly a market for them and that market is growing. The fact that the Note series has sold upwards of 40M units is clear testimony to this.

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by afv011

It really depends on your use case, you might not have a need, but somebody who carries a tablet and a phone because the phone is not comfortable to do whatever they do on the tablet, can replace both with a phablet. And the pen on the Note, for certain uses, makes that even more compelling. Phablets are not for everybody, but as said, there's clearly a market for them and that market is growing. The fact that the Note series has sold upwards of 40M units is clear testimony to this.

Always struggle of convenience versus usefulness.
Size like this.

The pen is convenient but authors use much larger computers.

[leebase]

Folks need to understand Apple. They do not follow trends just to follow trends. They do not put out products in every niche. Never have. Never will.

They did go from 3.5 to 4, a rare move. Not just to be larger, but to go to 16:9 the ration for HD content. They didn't change the width at all. Even at that, it caused developers to have to support two sizes which is something Apple has tried to minimize.

When Apple went Retina on both iPhone and then iPad, the pixels were exactly twice the resolution in each dimension. Thus apps created for one scale to the other seamlessly. Apple apps are designed pixel by pixel. Android designed for objects to scale and automatically move around to accommodate the wild wild west of screen sizes, ratios, and resolutions.

The iPad mini came out at the resolution of the original iPad...such that iPad apps still look and work great on it.

Apple also prioritizes single handedness.

They may eventually come out with a larger phone. They will do it when they have either perfected some scaling algorithms such that 1.x times scaling will still perform and look good. Or when they can double the resolution again.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by leebase

The iPad mini came out at the resolution of the original iPad...such that iPad apps still look and work great on it.

The mini could've been retina from the get go, but Apple loves its margins and would prefer their fan base to upgrade to get it. Why give their customers the best with an initial offering when you can get them to buy it twice? Baby steps maintain high margins.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The mini could've been retina from the get go, but Apple loves its margins and would prefer their fan base to upgrade to get it. Why give their customers the best with an initial offering when you can get them to buy it twice? Baby steps maintain high margins.

yeah, sure. That's EXACTLY why Apple does things.

[PatNY]

Originally Posted by leebase

Folks need to understand Apple. They do not follow trends just to follow trends. They do not put out products in every niche. Never have. Never will.

No companies follow trends just to follow trends. They follow trends to retain or grow market share and to preserve or grow revenues. Apple is no different.

Apple found itself behind the curve on both "phablets" and mid-sized tablets, and so they jumped on the bandwagon well after those trends had developed. Everything we've heard about Jobs and his objection to smaller tablets confirms that. When he passed away, his successors wasted no time in ignoring his previous edicts and rushed to compete with the Galaxy Tab 7.

Expect to see more bandwagon jumping in the near future from Apple as they put out a phablet in the 5" range.

--Pat