It is that time of year where a lot of us review our phone and lust for a new shiny faster one from Apple. Very subtly this year Apple however may have changed their approach and listened to the market, in particular the enterprise segment.
Over the past few years the pricing for iPhones has increased substantially. If you are just buying one its not really a big deal but when you plan to purchase a couple of thousand any price rise really hits the budget. As a result, Mobile Mentor has seen a large uptick in the number of customers reaching out to discuss the option of moving to Android. Has Apple identified this trend and was this year’s keynote and release in reaction to this?
Let’s unpack the data as I see it.
With the success of last year’s XR phone it was clear that people wanted the new full screen buttonless design but were happy to pocket $300 USD and opt for the cheaper variant.
Now in 2019 we see a keynote focusing on the iPhone 11 (the replacement for the XR) and then talking about the flagship Pro device as a follow–up. I cannot recall Apple ever doing this. Who leads with their lower cost product, certainly not Apple?
Is this the market speaking clearly to Apple? Throw in a $50 USD price drop on launch and we have something we have not seen before. Combine this price point with a long product support lifecycle as we have become accustom to with iOS devices (4 yrs of OS and security patching is very probable) and perhaps Apple now has a better total cost of ownership than ever before.
Did we hit ‘peak iPhone’ or is this just good market positioning? Is this in reaction to Android, particularly with Android Enterprise, staring to eat into the enterprise market share or is this just good a product lineup?
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First time reducing the price year over year
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First time focusing on anything but the flagship device
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First time mentioning an iPad with an iPhone launch.
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iOS 13 is packed full of enterprise features. (see below)
