Why Apple should make a satellite iPhone

Some experts believe that Apple needs to produce a cheaper iPhone than it is now, to keep pace with Android in terms of smartphone sales. It's a crazy idea.

Apple does not need a cheap iPhone. They need a more expensive iPhone. And that's why.

Android has received a large share of the market with a small profit

Android-based smartphones sold in much larger quantities than the iPhone. So large that Eric Schmidt He statedThat the share of Android and iPhone smartphones on the market comparable to Microsoft and Apple shares on the market for operating systems for the past 20 years. Only Schmidt tactfully did not mention the fact that Microsoft is making money on Windows.

The main reason that Android is sold so well is the fact that most of the Android smart phones are very cheap. Of course, a small amount of smartphones, such as Samsung Galaxy S III are very good and expensive. But such expensive, high-quality Android smartphone is not so much.

Most of the Android smartphone ships in China. The most populous country in the world with a population of over 1.3 billion people, approximately 2/3 of the smartphones sold - a smartphone based on Android. In fact, every third phone on Andorid sold in China. And a very big part of the phones sold in developing countries, are phones produced in China. For example, one of the most popular phones in Kenya is the Huawei Ideos, which

costs only 80 $.

These phones are for general consumers, not beneficial to the Samsung Galaxy S III. Instead, they are sold phones in China, mostly poor quality. Chinese use Android, because it's kind of a free operating system. It should be noted that there are hundreds of companies that make phones on Android. But Apple gets a lot more money than all Android-manufacturers combined.

Therefore, the idea that the iPhone should be as cheap as Android, to keep up with the market share of Android is insane.

This is like saying that Ferrari needs to make cheap cars, to keep up with Toyota. Or that Starbucks should do cheap inferior quality coffee to keep up with the Coffee House.

Apple - is a high quality brand, a brand that consumers love.

If Apple would lose face with Chinese phones with low profitability, it would not only cast a shadow over the image of Apple. This would have a negative impact on technical support, supply chain. This would cause serious problems with the production.

Instead of cheap, low-yield phone, Apple should release an expensive, highly profitable phone. Satellite phone.

Why Apple should sell satellite phone

Satellite phone allows you to make calls from anywhere - walking on foot, traveling around the world. Cool to have such a phone, but it is very expensive phone.

If you think satellite phones - ugly, square, heavy devices their 90s with horrible, thick antennae, you're probably not familiar with the phone on the TerreStar Genus.

Genus - is a kind, Windows mobile-Cmartfon that nobody wants to buy. It looks like a Blackberry with an additional lift on the rear part of the housing which is intended, apparently, for the satellite antenna.

Unlocked iPhones TerreStar Genus costs on Amazon's $ 800. It can operate as a normal GSM-phone, but you can switch to satellite mode for voice and data communications. It works on AT & T network and the fee for the use of satellite communications is $ 25 per month normalized over the amount you would have paid, plus 65 cents per minute for calls to satellite mode. The phone is able to switch to satellite mode, which supports voice calls, exchange text (such as SMS), data exchange. TerreStar Genus is not the best phone, and the market for satellite communications services has not yet been developed. In addition, satellite communications have not in every part of the world.

The fact is that the really good satellite phone could easily be made, and the possibility of its widespread use is much more than you think. Apple is not cheap in the niche products that make the same products that make other phones. Apple is to rethink the business of manufacturing industries. Apple should reinvent the industry of satellite phones again.

To scale possible was clear, Apple could buy absolutely any manufacturer of satellite phones, less than $ 3 billion. At the same time Apple has $ 125 billion in cash. Apple could develop its own high-speed global satellite network. It costs about $ 5 billion.

Of course, the launch and development of its own satellite network would be very expensive. But it would make Apple a global operator of wireless communication for decades to come. Thus, the company would not only be able to get more revenue from each phone, she I might be able to earn hundreds or thousands of dollars on each user for payment services communication.

We can assume that "satellite» iPhone could sell for $ 1,500, and for the version with a contract for $ 600 or $ 800. The price must be equal to the cost of Apple to manufacture such a phone plus a large margin of $ 500 or more.

At a time when Android was trying to get close to the iPhone feature for feature, satellite iPhone would be just out of competition. In addition, the super-high-end iPhone would be a desirable acquisition for millions of fans of Apple products that would raise Apple's image to the next level.

Who would buy such a phone and to pay such prices would be for the service?

• Businessmen, traveling the world, with unlimited expenditure
• People who live outside of the cellular phone coverage
• People who work or live on the sea in ships
• People traveling around the world
• government employees
• Workers "emergency"
• Builders and contractors
• Journalists and bloggers
• Simply Rich
• Apple fans

The reality is that the iPhone has given a new impetus to the development of the industry, but over time the industry will exhaust itself because everything except Apple's, plagiarize their products and gradually ahead of the iPhone sales.

The solution is not to flood the market with cheap phones from Apple. The actual solution is to reinvent the industry of satellite communications, seize this industry and release the best product for her.

Apple need expensive satellite iPhone. Would you have bought satellite iPhone?