Is this even a debate? How would providing advancements in the cell phone industry be a bad thing? There is huge potentential for other companies as well, not just for Apple. The cell phone industry is a very fast-paced world, and other cell phone makers quickly assimilate any new technology. With these new features, other phone companies will be able to provide the same products for probably a cheaper price, and in turn, drive Apple's costs down as well. There is some new technology in the iPhone, but it's nothing to be 'wowed' about. The only thing Apple did was find a better solution to something that already existed, and they just happened to be the first to do so. Is that a bad thing?
The trouble is though that other companies will probably only try to be the iPhone and not surpass its capabilities. Which is what happened with the MP3 industry. Many companies tried imitating the iPod without improving on performance, so they kinda paved Apple's way to great success in the music industry. Because of this, the market is filled with all these crappy products that have very little of what consumers want. I'm not saying that every company or product is like this, but with most companies it's more of hit or miss, and if they miss, they pull. Apple tries to hit everytime with the FIRST product, making it less wasteful. Saying that the iPhone will flop because of the price is pretty stupid. Some of the first iPods cost around $500 and they sold by the truckloads.
And how just sticking 'to what they know' be a solution? If business worked like that, they wouldn't be able to expand and make more profit. Sure, there are those exclusive companies that will do just fine with only one industry, but when a general consumer electronics company like Apple or Sony doesn't expand, any financial issues it may face in the future can be the end of the company very quickly. But that should be common sense, in my opinion.










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