It doesn’t take a genius. The next big thing is already here, GALAXY S III.
IT was not the first time that Samsung shot anti-Apple commercials. The most famous one maybe was the one made for its Galaxy S smart phone during Apple’s toughest time triggered by iPhone 4’s antenna gate. Now, this one, gunning at the just released 6th generation iPhone (iPhone 5), put a plain statement that Apple’s greatness has gone as its genius drains out. It made people think that Samsung was taking revenge on the lost struggle on the patents war, which cost it 1.05 billion dollars compensation fee, plus another 400 million dollars spent on attorneys.
Question: Is Apple really losing its aura in the post Jobs era?
Long before iPhone 5 came out, there were large speculations going on and on and on, on the cyberspace, about how stunning the new iPhone could be, how it would look like externally, how it would again make the whole world cheer up, how and how…well, as soon as iPhone 5 came out on September 12, waves after waves of complaining and disappointments followed. People complained that there were not surprise found, no change made, and no innovation introduced at all. Maybe this was somewhat exaggerated, but, there might be question for Tim Cook in peoples’ minds like this, “Hey, Mr. Captain, making an existing phone 8.6 mm taller, 1.7 mm thinner and 28 grams lighter, do you call that innovation?” It was really awkward to admit that the new iPhone did not cover some of features that are becoming common needs on most of the smart phones, such as NFC, and wireless charging technology.
Jonathan Ive, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, said, every tiny little thing made to iPhone must be careful, or something likes that. That was quite ironic, because it was exactly the same braveness to make changes that gave birth to the world’s first iPhone which rewritten the history of world phone development path. Needless to point out that, there were no denying that from 3GS to 4, Apple made a great success on iPhone, which produced a classic iPhone since iPhone, but, from 4 to 4S, and now to 5, there were no fundamental changes seen. The dull two-tone black and white, the old fashioned rectangle, the out-dated rounded corners and polished edges, only taller, thinner and lighter, seemed that Apple was too humble to make another dent in universe again? Not really, every great company loses no chance to surprise the world, especially to one which puts innovation on first priority like Apple (or maybe Apple in the past?). Is it the huge success of iPhone 4 made Apple more cautious on implementing new designs? Is that rectangle frame framed Apple’s courage on making great leap forward? Is that two-tone color blinded Apple’s Eyes of great envision?
As the oldest line goes, history always repeats itself in an amazing way. There are living examples that great companies began to lose their prowess after their founders departed. Sony Group began to go downhill after Akio Morita, one of its joint cofounders, passed way. Another big name was Disney World. Ever since Walt Disney went to see Karl Marx, the company he started which was then the world’s greatest cartoon maker, was on the way of decline. Now, will this vicious circle continue? Will Apple start downgrading itself from a great company into a good company, just because its charismatic cofounder and spiritual leader Steve Jobs was gone? At least, as Samsung eyed it, Apple the big ship, under the steering of Captain Cook, is missing its navigation chart. Samsung is ready to take the throne? Seemingly, it is, as you can smell from its new anti-iPhone advertising:
It doesn’t take a genius. The next big thing is already here, GALAXY S III.
From the spec to spec comparison, it’s still early to say that iPhone 5 is doomed to be a failure and Galaxy S III will win the battle of this round. Dear readers, what do you think?
