Imagine how case makers betting on the iPhone 5 release feel.
A week ago Apple announced the iPhone 4s not the iPhone 5. The much touted iPhone 4sis nearly identical to the iPhone 4 only with new name, processor and a huge pricetag.
We should really have seen it coming a mile away, following all Apple set the precedent with the iPhone 3GS, a stepping stone towards the iPhone 4, and now the iPhone 4s. The Apple community is no stranger to hyping up the awesome gadgets which comes from Apple. so should we have the right to be unhappy with what some people call a clone?
If you feel let down think about the iPhone case making companies.
Remember all those “leaked” iPhone 5 pics, images and prototypes? Made by an array of corporations within the $436 million case marketplace, they “proved” that iPhone 5 would have radical redesign: thinner, tapered, larger screen.
One case company”Difficult Candy” has spent thousands up tens of thousands of dollars on the bet the iPhone 5 was releasing. Bill Hickman a prominent iPhone case manufacturer detailed his experince.
“After three separate manufacturing partners in China sent him detailed 3D models of an iPhone with a widened, pill-shaped “home” button along with a slightly tapered back, Hickman decided to roll the dice,” Businessweek reports. “He paid $50,000 to make steel moldings to mass-produce circumstances for the new style and, on the morning of Apple’s announcement, began taking orders on his web page. The gamble backfired: Apple’s new iPhone 4S included no key modifications to the exterior style. The house button remained circular. Hickman suddenly owned $50,000 worth of paperweights.”
While they bet incorrectly with Apple’s externally unchanged iPhone 4S, Difficult Candy has benefitted from gambling on leaked designs prior to. When the last generation iPod touch was released in September 2010, the business already had a mold based on leaked specs from China, vastly cutting time for manufacturing ramp-up. Subsequently, Difficult Candy was in a position to have Ipod cases in stores that accommodated the new style 1 week after its announcement.
Do these gambles outweigh the $436 million shoppers spend on smartphone cases every year? Hickman believes so. When Apple fans are waiting to snap up their new iPhone 5, businesses like Hard Candy need to gamble 0n leaked specs and images. Selling iPhone, iPod and other phone cases within weeks of a iPhone release could mean win or fail. By leveraging this advantage, Hickman expects his revenues to surpass $50 million by 2013.
What do we want from the iPhone 5 now that the 4s has taken the market by storm?
Better technology to take the iPhone brand to the next level. We think Apple will use the iPhone 4s release to take time and refine the iPhone 5 into a brand new phone. Not a clone or rehash. This is what we expect.
- dual-core processor
- Flash support
- HDMI
- Improved graphics
- A6 processor
- 4G/LTE
- larger screen
- Totally new design
- NFC Chip
- Micro Sd card slot
- Facetime over data network
- Wireless charging
- Amazing battery life
