How Hard is it to Apple, Apple?

As someone who is curious about success stories, I laud Apple for their comeback in the computing world with the iPhone. Before you dismiss the article as a fanboy writeup, my two cents would be to give it a read. This is a vague follow up to my previous post on how Blackberry and Nokia let me down with promising starts, but unsustainable ideas. 

Without doubt, the iPhone is one of Apple's greatest achievements. Most credit their marketing efforts to lure customers into buying them, making it a major source of revenue with iPads slowly declining in demand and iPods turning to legacy devices exclusively for fans or kids who cannot be handed over an iPhone. But this article shows how great marketing can only succeed with a great product and unified vision of a company. 

While the Mac continues to innovate in it’s own space, there is little to no doubt that with the advent of Windows 10, the PC market is going to boom in the coming years and Microsoft’s reinvigorated focus on the operating system means that OS X has a tough task trying to keep pace.

Around ten years ago, Steve Jobs boldly claimed that Apple was a mobile devices company and that they would pursue their vision of mobile computing in the form of iOS rather than try and sell a laptop to everyone. Frankly, I don’t read much into all this talk, because a software behemoth like Google still does not know how to handle it’s Android platform in terms of monetising or controlled updates, addressing security patches etc., 

However, what I thought was a fair understanding of the differentiation of Apple from other companies was two of my favourite smartphones of 2013. The iPhone 5s was at the forefront in terms of innovations ranging from design, camera and of course, the now ubiquitous fingerprint reader. A comparable flagship from the time is Motorola’s Moto X. The company went on to mimic Apple’s successful model of optimising software and steered clear from expensive, power hungry hardware. The Moto X was designed to feel and look expensive and for the most part, it did succeed. While nowhere close to the iPhone in terms of materials, the Moto X felt like a solid device with plenty of customisation options and a patriotic ‘Assembled in USA’ tag line. Although this did not matter to those outside the US, there were a lot of things going for the Moto X ranging from touch less controls to ‘Active’ display. While the feel in the hand of the device made me splurge on one, the choice made is questionable in 2016. 

You see, the iPhone was twice the price then, at about INR 50, 000. Considering the fact that I was upgrading from an iPhone 4 and had invested quite deeply in the ecosystem with an iPad, it must have been the logical choice, albeit an expensive one. The Moto X on the other hand retailed at a more pocket friendly INR 23, 500, making it clearly better in terms of value. But which one would hold on better? Let’s find out. 

The iPhone 5s runs iOS 9, the latest build of the operating system with aplomb. Boot times maybe a touch slower than expected, but overall, the phone is quite useable, looks stunning in any colour and has a competent camera. Battery life has never been the iPhone’s strength, so let’s call that a draw. The plus side is though that a smaller battery enables faster charging and smaller external batteries suffice. To top it all off, at least for bragging rights, it’s an iPhone. 

The Moto X was a fantastic bit of hardware for the price and worked really well for the first year or so. For a while though, Motorola, which was known for quick software updates, kind of gave up on the device, leaving a lot to be desired. I ran into a lot of troubles just syncing mails, contacts and let’s not even get into the camera. Not to mention, most of the apps, music and movies bought on iOS were redundant. Still, the device won me over with it’s design, build, thoughtful touches like the active display, touch less control and most important of all, a ‘special’ factor. It was not the most popular phone, so felt a touch exclusive and everyone on the street took it for the more popular Moto G, enhancing the discreet appeal of the X. To me, there were a lot of things wrong with the phone, but there were also lots of nifty details that made it ‘feel’ right.

In 2016, Motorola no longer supports the original Moto X with software updates and third party accessory makers don’t really seem to care much about the device, leaving my phone stuck on an older version of Android, a bad camera experience and little to no accessories to buy. From a user’s perspective, this is not a good place to be. Not to mention, the operating system does not seem to be optimised, with inconsistent battery life and plenty of lag. 

So, the question is, would the iPhone 5s have been a better ‘investment’ in 2013? I am going to be a little bold here and say ‘yes’. Before you go all iSheep over me, consider this. The 5s is still very much relevant and the A7 chip inside is a screamer, letting Apple easily support the device for another year. So that’s four solid years of support from the company; not to mention the 5s is still loved by casemakers and fellow classmates alike. Motorola tried to pull an Apple with the Moto X, focusing on the experience rather than hardware power alone, but it only goes to show how a company like Apple has successfully integrated it’s ecosystem overtime and others need to step up to even start catching up. Since Google owns Android and has sold Motorola to Lenovo, there is little to no love for the company. Let’s not forget shall we, that Motorola was one of the biggest names when the X was launched and of course, responsible for the mobile phone itself. Apple has made them irrelevant with a hugely successful business model, thoughtful innovation and great user experience.  Nokia, Blackberry and Sony Ericsson all failed because they lack to the end-to-end control over their products that Apple continues to enjoy. Who will fall next; Samsung, Huawei or LG?