2012 has been a mixed year for Apple. Spanning from the surfacing of Maps App to the tremendous success of Passbook and confusion surrounding the release of new version of iPhone to perplexing iPad updates, Apple has witnessed it all. But at the same time, it has learnt some great lessons for the upcoming year.
The Fabricated Prize Winner:
2012 has been a funny year for Apple. On the hardware front, the smart phone giant had to witness some hassles as the Maps App got surfaced. But the real ugliness came as iPad 3 was introduced in the market, back in March 2012. The new release was plagued with various issues- the unit got heated easily, the Apple A5X processor was not capable of supporting retina display for high resolution games and battery took long time to get charged.
So Apple’s plans to dominate the gaming arena never realized and Apple has to make a surprise release of iPad 4 in November to rescue its growing army of game developers. The new Lightning connector introduced in iPad 4 was a worthy update but Apple’s brusque attitude and costly adapters ruined the show this time again. All this did little to elevate company’s image.
The Mini Surprise:
The release of iPad Mini came as a relief for Apple. Soon after its release it became the top-selling gadget from Apple and helped it to level scores with Google, Amazon and other lead players in the industry. But as it happens in case of its larger kin, it doesn’t take many efforts to imagine that a better version of iPad Mini will be available soon, with possible inclusion of retina-display and usual amalgamation of specifications. The fact that it was released alongside the highly concealed iPad 4 took the confusion a notch higher.
The users are not expected to buy every new version of iPad that hits the market but sowing confusion amongst them is not a good move. Users’ expectation for new releases increases considerably and gadget-head is left with nothing to do. These issues came as breaking news for minority of users, but they definitely dented people’s perception that Apple is capable of offering value to those looking for quality upgrades.
Apple’s new iPhone might be a rage amongst buyers wherever it is launching, but a feeling prevails in the market that the phone is not all it could be. It is a decent looking package of awesome design and great processor supported by an age-old OS, with a peculiarly wide display.
Apple’s rush to leave other vendors behind and be different, might have shoved it into a corner in this perspective. Hopefully, iPhone 5S or 6 have something more to offer, beyond lots of apps to be updated by the developers and an extra row of icons.
Besides working hard on the hardware front, Apple also invested well in the operating system front which became evident with the introduction of iOS 6. From the initial stage, it became quite evident that Passbook would be a big rage, something which was further confirmed by a recent publication in Wired. The growing family of apps and the Passbook feature showed real potential and a promising future.
However, due to some unidentified reasons, Apple could not conceive the simple act of replacing one ser of maps information with another. There has been immense discussion about the fallout and behind-the-scene story of Apple Maps app, and the fixes are already on their way. Minus the above said issues, iOS 6 would have received a warmer welcome, and hopefully Passbook will emerge as the true start of 2012 amongst the rise of other apps.
I-phone 6 is now in rumour.