Links

They say that differentiation is key to good product marketing. Apple does a superb job of differentiating their hardware from competitors. Differentiation is important in journalism, too. When it comes to interest, angle and perspective set one article above or below another.

For Reuters, here’s an article so dumb and ill-advised that nobody wanted to publish a byline.

Asian customers not impressed with Apple’s new iPhone 11

Uh huh. Since you can’t buy one in Asia yet, that seems reasonable. What did Korean analyst Park Sung-soon, who likely has relatives employed by Apple competitor Samsung, have to say?

Apple’s new phones were no surprise at all. Only tangible change is having an additional camera on their premium model

Oh, so those new Samsung Galaxy-whatever models can shoot photos and videos from three cameras at the same time? And get so much more battery life than last year?

Anything else?

How about some user on China’s Twitter-like service Weibo?

Since we still have to wait a year for 5G, why not just buy Huawei on Monday

They’re hard to find in the U.S. And Google won’t let them run Android. So, there’s that. OK. Good. We’re done. Two Asians.

I called my mom and told her about the new iPhones. She wasn’t impressed, either. Dad? Same. See? Seniors.

Remember way back when, about three years ago, back to when iPhone was the best smartphone camera you could get? Those days are gone. iPhone XS Max shows up at #10 on DxOMark’s list (as of today’s date), eight points behind leader Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G. Samsung had three in the top 10, all higher than iPhone.

The rumors have floated around too long and too wrong to wait another six months just to be disappointed. Again. Lory Gil sums it up.

Just because a small, but vocal, segment of the iPhone buying population champions the iPhone SE, doesn’t mean it’s worth Apple’s time and effort. I don’t think we’ll see another four-inch iPhone and it breaks my heart a little every time those rumors pop up.

Indeed.

Apple found a bunch of iPhone SE’s in a warehouse somewhere and they sold out in a day. Maybe an iPhone 8-like SE would be worth praying for.

Everybody has an iPhone wish list about this time each year. There is less to this year’s list than ever.

I generally prefer to dwell in reality, but I accept that sometimes my hopes get the best of me and a little bit of wish-casting sneaks into my cold, hard analysis.

New iPhone, new camera, new names. Meh.

PED with some hefty iPhone sales estimates from a bullish analyst:

With roughly 1/3 of the company’s 900 million active iPhones globally currently in a “window of an upgrade opportunity” over the next 12 to 18 months Cook & Co. recognize this will be a crucial product cycle on the horizon that we believe could translate into roughly 180 million iPhone units sold in FY20.

In other words, flat. I’m a math major. How is that bullish?