iPhones For All

Last week, Apple had consumers feverishly waiting for the new generation iPhone to be revealed to the masses.

And for the first time, Apple released two iPhones at once. One is called the iPhone 5C and is just $100 on contract, a perfect phone for those on a budget or young children who will also be attracted to the jolly rancher-esque colors its available in.

The other is the more expected of the pair, the iPhone 5S. Somewhat of a re-up of last year’s ever popular iPhone 5, which sold 55 million units. The iPhone 5S boasts a  speedier processor and a slew of camera improvements. Which include a better light sensor, a more life-like flash, the ability for slow motion video, and live video zoom.

Even for those not into photography, the new iPhone has something for them as well. There has been an entire overhaul of the OS, in an attempt end the redundancy of a system that has seen little change since its inception in 2007.

Perhaps the most surprising change in Apples flagship device is the finger print scanner. A welcomed change from the monotonous passcode route and the infamous “slide to unlock” feature.To unlock it now, all you’ve got to do is push your finger onto the home button, which will then scan you finger and unlock your phone. A novel feature that will no longer leave people scratching their head when trying to remember that pesky passcode. The last and possibly most noticeable update is that the iPhone now comes in a gold hue.

But the question is, is iPhone still the gold standard when it comes to mobile devices? Or are they now playing catch up to other platforms?

Their stock prices are a direct reflection of this, as it is currently $463.50, and just a year ago it was $700.00.

The idea of a budget device is nothing new to the Cupertino tech giant. The iPod which debuted in 2001 offered a cheaper model, which is now called the Nano. A more affordable version of their laptop was available too, the Macbook. Yet it took them six years to release a price conscience iPhone. In the tech world, six year is a very long time.

Other companies such as Samsung, LG and Huawei have been releasing cheaper versions of their top tier devices for years, usually aimed for the enormous domestic Chinese market, and billions of other people in other countries have been waiting to get their hand on a technology that still seems so intangible.

It has taken Apple awhile to see what potential a country like China can hold. For instance, Reuters reported that back in March, 1.5 billion people in China had cell phones, and 280 million of those people were Smartphone users. Here in America, there are just 254 million cell phones all together.

Aside from the obvious competition between companies, bringing this type of technology into burgeoning markets benefits the world. It will lessen the economic inequality that doesn’t include billions of people from accessing such important and large amounts of information.

On the other hand, it has become another option in markets that have already been established, such as in America, where people who don’t feel like (or cant) spend that extra few hundred bucks to have the same phone as everyone else.

Jennifer Horowitz, the mother of an 18-year-old who has just started college has been delighted by the fact that Apple is finally paying attention to those that can’t afford such expensive devices.

“I’ve got a kid who just started college and another in High School, and for the price of one expensive iPhone, I can get two of the cheaper ones now. You know, with tuition being as high as it is, every dollar helps,” mentioned Horowitz.

Some people believe that Apple is just a little too late when it comes to releasing the iPhone 5C.

“It’s almost like they’re running out of ideas for things to do,” said Andrew Gross, a student at St. John’s. “I want an iPhone because it’s a status symbol; if I had the iPhone 5C people would know that I had the cheap one and not the expensive one. So I’m definitely just gonna get the iPhone 5S instead, there’s nothing better than Apple because it’s so cool.”

Those who aren’t iPhone fans at all have a totally different view when it comes to the iPhone’s newfound territory, or lack thereof.

After all, you can put lipstick on a pig.

“I had the first three iPhones and I loved them, until one day the new one came out and I got tired of how it looked, it hadn’t changed much,” said Candace Christine, a senior at Baruch College.

She thought that it was time for a change and decided to get an android handset, and has not looked back.

“It’s more customizable ,I can put icons wherever I want, and if I want a giant clock on the home screen, than that’s what I get,” she exclaimed.

It’s hard to deny the foot print that Apple has left in the mobile computing world, though some wonder if they have strayed from their innovative and groundbreaking ideas. Perhaps Apple just isn’t built to innovate forever; many other companies come to this point as well.

Companies rise to relevance, dominate for a period of time, then fade into the scenery, after all it's the cycle of capitalism and it happens every day.