When the iPhone 7 was recently unveiled without the traditional headphone jack, they said they were able to develop it due to courage. But for courage to take place, there must first be a reason to take a step forward in the first place. So, how exactly were they courageous with the new iPhone 7 and was their ‘courage’ correctly placed on modifying the headphone jack? Could there have been a different function of the iPhone that was changed instead of the headphone jack to give users a better experience? Maybe. Was the headphone port changed only for the sake of change? Maybe. They also wanted to make the iPhone thinner, but did the iPhone actually need to become thinner? It’s a maybe again. Was it solely (If you have any better feature ideas than a new headphone port, I’d love to hear your ideas in the comment section below.) But the only way to answer all of these questions is by looking at what the market does, because when innovation is done correctly, it always shows up in the response of customers, which of course translates to more sales. Of course, we can’t know what will happen with sales until Apple actually releases their new phone, but what we do know is that Apple was willing to not play it safe, and that is what has my attention.
What I do know is that courage in product development requires that companies begin fighting their fears in areas that matter to consumers. And the early read on Apple’s decision to change the headphone port was more of a sales tactic rather than doing something that matters. But what if this isn’t the case? What if Apple knows something that the rest of us don’t? Maybe they are looking into future accessories or headsets that need high-speed transfers of data, and the lightning port can be the source for those things. I guess the point is that the rest of us can speculate as much as we want to, but we don’t really know if it was just a marketing ploy to sell more units. So, what can we do in the meantime? We can choose to keep our older iPhones, or trust that Apple has our best interests in mind and buy the new iPhone 7, or we can shop for a new phone. That’s the great thing about the market; it allows us to do those things and it allows businesses to compete. And within competition, businesses become better, and better products are produced.
Just remember that innovation of any type comes before people accept it. The majority of feedback on the new iPhone has been negative, mainly regarding their new AirPods, but this is because the majority of people like to criticize. But as for me, I always choose to see the positive before I see the negative. So I will buy the new iPhone, test it out, and make a decision for myself. As for Apple, I applaud their creativity and innovation. And as for everyone else, my question to you is, how are you innovating? At least Apple is willing to try something new. Are you?
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