The iPhone 5 joins Apple’s ecosystem
Sarah Gardner: It’s faster, it’s got a bigger screen, better camera, better color and it’s the lightest smartphone in the world. Do I really need to tell you what I’m talking about? The iPhone 5, what else?
The official unveiling was today in San Francisco amid the usual Apple hoopla. Even the Foo Fighters performed at this one. The phone goes on sale next week, and it’s expected to be a blockbuster. But as Marketplace’s Queena Kim reports, what Apple left out of the phone may also be key.
Queena Kim: At the dawn of this tech boom, the promise was all about sharing and being friends. Back then, Google didn’t have smartphones or tablets. And so Apple hosted Google Maps and YouTube on its iPhones and iPads. The vibe was all “mi casa, es su casa.”
Roger Kay is analyst at Endpoint Technologies.
Roger Kay: Most people figured out when you share things you don’t make any money.
Kay says now it’s all about putting a big fence around your property and kicking all your “friends” out. Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook:
Kay: Are trying to harvest profits within the walls of their garden.
For Apple, that garden is the iPhone and iPad. And once you buy one, Apple wants to be there to sell you everything. Sarah Rotman-Epps is an analyst at Forrester.
Sarah Rotman-Epps: In the new iPhone, we won’t see Google Maps as the default map application, and that’s because there is power in knowing where people are at all times.
In the not-too-distant future, Apple could make money by selling that data to say, a 24-hour diner, that can send you an ad when you leave a nightclub.
Andreas Weigend directs the social data lab at Stanford. He’s says its not just about selling you stuff, it’s about collecting your data.
Andreas Weigend: At the heart of trying to own the consumer, is to own the identity of the user.
And the company that can really figure out that identity and direct you to the right 24-hour diner will emerge as the victor.
I’m Queena Kim for Marketplace.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
