While the move to USB-C might mean bigger businesses will end up with a host of older Lightning accessories and cables to drop into the landfill over the next year or two (take that, EU), Apple will still sell 150 million of the new iPhones over the next year, according to Francisco Jeronimo, vice president for data and analytics, devices at IDC.
Here’s a rundown of some other considerations enterprises might keep in mind following Apple’s iPhone launch.
Apple’s international price decisions
While iPhone prices remained the same in the US, Apple raised some prices in some key markets, including in China, India, and Japan. In China, while the base model prices stayed the same, the cost of higher-capacity models climbed, while in India, the Pro models saw the steepest price hikes.
It’s hard not to see the price decisions as reflecting the relative economic strength of the nations. While China’s and India’s economies seem to be experiencing signs of growth, the post-Brexit weakness of the UK economy might have led Apple to reduce the cost of some iPhone models there.
Was this an attempt to stimulate sales in a declining economy?
Mother Nature
Apple’s Mother Nature clip was an amusing way to try to bring audiences along with the company’s environmental work. This is an important consideration, and while I think it faces some resistance from those who indulge in self-denial at the realities of climate change, Apple’s determination to become carbon neutral by 2030 must be seen for what it is: a challenge to competitors and the creation of an ecosystem that quite literally will help Apple’s business users reduce their own carbon emissions.
After all, while making devices that are carbon neutral is good, using them is good too — and should help reduce corporate Scope 3 emissions.
The importance of the camera
The key factor that makes everyone want to upgrade their iPhone includes the annually improved photography features. The iPhone Pro range is always the flagship of this, which means that if you do offer employee choice schemes that include that device, you’ll benefit from happier workers who won’t want to leave your company, because they’ll want to hang onto their phone.
The cost of retention and recruitment is usually far higher than the cost of an iPhone, no?
Roadside assistance via satellite
With implications for vehicle fleets, Roadside assistance via satellite is a new feature that builds on the Emergency SOS by satellite system, which will be available in 16 countries by the end of the month. This lets you request help using satellites when a person is outside of network coverage. Introduced with AAA (which already handles 30 million requests each year), roadside assistance consists of pre-populated options to explain the kind of help you need, including locked out, flat tire or a stuck vehicle.
This is good for any user, but it’s hard not to see the potential to provide additional security to vehicle fleets for those businesses already transitioning to iPhone.
The inevitable shift to eSIM is slow
When it introduced iPhone 14, Apple made it mandatory to use eSIM provisioning rather than SIM cards in new US phones. It’s surprising this insistence on eSIM didn’t extend to additional nations this year, though, Apple did mention it and noted it is now supported by more than 295 carriers globally. While Apple didn’t go eSIM-only in more nations, likely due to resistance from consumers, it must be a matter of time.
For business users, a move to mandatory eSIM should make it easier to remotely provision at least one business line on every managed iPhone.
Speak with your carrier
There are numerous great carrier deals available. US customers can get an iPhone 15 Pro for as little as nothing after trading in another iPhone from AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. As carriers face continued customer churn, they will be competing to attract the kind of high-value clients who use iPhones, so it’s reasonable to anticipate better deals from your carriers as you seek to provision new and existing hires.
It’s not impossible you might find account handlers a little more willing to negotiate on bigger contract deals.
Ultra-Wideband — a stealth opportunity?
As adoption spreads, Apple’s second-generation Ultra Wideband chip should help foster new short-range location and connection services. The chip is capable of connecting to devices up to three times further away and is more precise when it comes to location. This should improve overall performance of Apple’s FindMy system, and make for more accurate location of lost or stolen tracked items.
What’s in a NameDrop?
This feature, which lets users more easily share contact information by bringing two iPhones close together, will now be available on Apple Watch. I think the capacity to share a contact card so easily will become popular at corporate and trade events.
Join the crowd on a Digital Island
Digital Island had potential at its introduction last year. It’s a nice interactive feature through which to deliver at-a-glance information such as food delivery arrival times, ride sharing, sports scores. Now available in all the current iPhones, it might motivate companies to consider how they could reach their customers through this feature, which should be supported inside millions of actively used devices by the end of the year.
The unbearable lightness of memory
Apple is limping toward increasing on-device memory. While the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus both stick with 6GB, the Pro models gain 8GB. That’s obviously going to help drive those bigger displays and handle the on-device imaging intelligence — and it should translate to benefits for any high-end productivity pro on iPhone.
Wi-Fi 6E is slowly coming
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max support Wi-Fi 6E for greater wireless performance, including up to 2x faster speeds. I think this suggests we can expect support for the standard in other iPhones beginning next year. The devices are also Thread-enabled, which makes them useful partners in smart offices and homes.
Succession
Once upon a time, critics used to say Apple had no succession plan in the event anything happened to CEO Steve Jobs. Something did happen, and it turned out the critics were wrong as Apple has flourished under the subsequent leadership of CEO Tim Cook. But what if something happens to him?
Analyst Gene Munster believes COO Jeff Williams is being gently guided to position to take the top seat if Cook leaves. Cook for President? But the message is that every company needs to think like Apple and put a succession plan in place.
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