Occupying one of the most paradoxical statuses of 2011 was the iPhone 4S, which won the “Best and Most Successful Disappointment” award at a canter. It barged its way into the smart phone market just before Christmas sales were being rung up, once again demonstrating that whatever weaknesses some critics will level at Apple, a lack of marketing acumen is definitely not among them.
Neither is a disloyal fan base. Collectively salivating at the prospect of the iPhone 5 being announced in October 2011, Apple’s followers were a little disgruntled when the technology giant unveiled the 4S in its stead. However, after much online speculation about the end of Apple’s era, the 4S flew off the shelves about as fast as light particles shoot through the Large Hadron Collider. After tallying up the figures the phone outsold even Apple’s most optimistic estimates – making up a large chunk of the 36 million iPhones sold in the fourth quarter of 2011. Rumours of Apple’s demise were greatly exaggerated.
Crucial to all this success was undoubtedly the USP that is the voice-activated personal assistant, Siri. This feature, as popularised in an extensive TV ad campaign, allows the 4S owner to use verbal commands to make calls, send messages, set task reminders and even answer questions like “what’s the weather like in Glasgow?” (Anticipated answer: “overcast with a risk of violence”). This cheeky feature, although in a Beta stage and without full service coverage in the UK, has charmed many an iPhone user into staying true to the Apple brand, along with the slick new iOS5 operating system.
It wouldn’t quite be fair to call the 4S state-of-the-art, as it only just incorporated hardware like dual core processors several months after its Android rivals. However, as a gimmick Siri has helped fight the corner for Apple’s market share as alternative smart phone handsets started to gain solicitous looks from their followers. In the battle against the Rise of the Androids, the 4S is Apple’s answer to John Connor: perhaps not quite Christian Bale in Terminator Salvation, but a good sight better than Edward Furlong in a flannel shirt.
The reasons for this are manifold, including the competitive performance of Apple’s Retina display and the as-yet-unmatched range of apps and music services available. On top of these factors comes a very decent camera, along with Apple’s FaceTime for video-calling.
Finally, the new iCloud allows for seamless and automated file sharing between all your Apple products. What’s on your iPod will be on your iPhone automatically thanks to cloud-style sharing in your home: no need for repeated file back-ups via WiFi, Bluetooth or USB. On top of all this comes the focused customer service that Apple Stores provide. As always, Apple’s ease-of-use comes to the fore, meaning that their products will continue to sell well as long as their competitors are represented on the high street by third-party sales staff and customer representatives.
As contemporary smartphones go, the 4S will be an ideal phone contract upgrade for Apple users, or will tide them over until the iPhone 5 comes out in 2012. Like them or loathe them, the iPhone is here to stay, and the 4S may have played a significant part in ensuring its longevity.