Is the iPhone really becoming uncool? Or is it just incredibly popular these days to say that the iPhone is uncool?
Investors Business Daily is now another member in a growing group predicting the imminent demise of the Apple smartphone. The reasoning is simple: they say the iPhone is losing its cool factor.
IBD published a New Year’s predictions list, and their very first look into the future projects Apple’s hold on the “coolness” factor diminishing.
The iPhone is boxy, flat and feeling stale. The Samsung Galaxy smartphone seems cooler. With Google’s (GOOG) Android platform now the fastest-growing mobile OS, Apple’s software advantage will diminish. Smartphones and tablets will become commodity items and Apple will be eaten by the collective Android gang
Do you agree that the iPhone’s look is “boxy, flat and feeling stale?” At least IBD has a point with this critique. It’s an understatement to say that some people were less than pleased when Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S, and phone that despite a faster processor, better camera, and Siri, contained no design changes.
The same cannot be said about other recent slams of the iPhone’s coolness factor. One Nokia exec was quoted in December as saying that the youth “are pretty much fed up with iPhones” because virtually everyone has an iPhone. He went on to call iPhones “black mono-boxes” and said they reside in a “sea of sameness.”
Of course, his goal in saying all of this was to promote the Windows Phone platform as the next big thing in cool. Recent reports suggest that the youth still like their iPhones, and the argument that nobody wants an iPhone because everybody wants an iPhone is flawed to say the least.
And back in September, HTC president Martin Fitcher said that kids no longer want iPhones because their dads have them. He went on to say that iPhones just “aren’t that cool anymore.”
As your probably know, rumors indicate that Apple is working on a redesign for the iPhone 5. Folks have been taking about its possible changes, which could include a thinner frame and a larger screen, for months. Could this shake off some of the cobwebs?
So, tell us what you think. Are iPhones still cool? Or are they boxy and flat like suggested? How will 2012 treat the world’s biggest smartphone? Let us know in the comments.
