By Kaneisha Montague; Editorial Intern
While much conversation about Apple production moving to the U.S mounts, a whispering issue simmers around the production of the new iPhone 5 and has remained a factor in production that has not been talked about.
pple has been known to discontinue the availability of older model devices and shortly after, discontinue the production of the device all together. The iPhone 3g model was released in 2008 and was discontinued by 2010. Those who were owners of iPhone 3g’s could either upgrade to a higher generation iPhone or no longer remain an iPhone user.
iPhone sales have sky rocketed from the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, with sales at .27 million to 35.06 million in 2012. With the previous said, one can conclude that the number of loyal iPhone users has heavily increased. With the increase of iPhone sales, the production of upgraded iPhones simultaneously increases as well.
Recently, the iPhone is in its fourth generation, with talk about the fifth generation being released this month. What is most intriguing about this particular generation is the fact that the fifth generation iPhone will be the first generation to have a different dock connector.
Although this may appear as a simple upgraded amenity of the new generation, further analysis is necessary. iPhone generations 1-4 have all had the same dock connector, allowing the consumer to efficiently maintain the same dock connector throughout each upgrade. The issue arises when the older generation models are discontinued.
Those who had no desire to upgrade to the pricey new model will now be forced to comply with the progression of the companies products. A consumer who wishes to go against the grain will find themselves in the exact predicament of those consumers still owning iPhone 3g’s today, the production of their model will discontinue and consumers will be forced to make that pricy purchase.
With the older models discontinued, the supporting equipment, i.e, the dock connector for older models, will be discontinued also, leaving iPhone holders trapped between a pricy purchase and a hard place.
Of this new production of pricy iPhones, two outcomes are possible. Apple will either reap the benefits of a large number of costumers purchasing the new iPhone fifth generation or a decline in loyal costumers. The latter is definitely a strong possible outcome seeing that many companies are stepping up to compete against Apple in the mobile device industry, including Facebook. More mobile device competition equals more options for the consumer. Current loyal iPhone cusumers may not be so trapped after all.
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