Is the iPhone 5c dead? Low sales, waning customer interest, and an increasingly competitive market have many analysts claiming that the iPhone 5c is dead. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes that the iPhone 5c is close to extinction in the minds of consumers. The phone Apple tried to sell using colors is “fading from its already lower position in consumers’ minds.”
Declining sales and over three million phones collecting dust are a big indicator that the iPhone 5c is dead. So what is killing the 2013 little brother iPhone? It actually may have been the very thing Apple hoped to capitalize on, color. The iPhone 5s is both an upgrade in design and specs compared to the iPhone 5c, which is basically a 4s with color options. In reality, most customers purchase their own cases for their phones. Color scheme is rarely a big selling point for serious smartphone shoppers.
The last few months have revealed several truths about the future of smartphones. Most importantly, it appears that a tiered approach is the way to go. Everyone from Samsung to LG are releasing smaller versions of their flagship phones to compete in the global market. What the iPhone 5c failed to predict was how to release two versions of a phone at the same time. The $99 price point for a phone the company had released already, just with different colors, was not an attractive offer. Many analysts believe Apple will learn from their mistake.
But Apple is not willing to concede that the iPhone 5c is dead. Recently, a Tumblr page was established called isee5c . Featuring colorful videos, the Tumblr page appears to be one big advertisement for the iPhone 5c. The videos are very reminiscent of the original iPhone 5c ad campaigns when the phone was originally released. Compared to this video, they are almost identical.
Though the Tumblr page is not explicitly claimed by Apple, many users have claimed to see the videos pop up as sponsored ads in their dashboard . Also, the professional level and obvious marketing strategy of giving every color a story would be a strange hobby for someone not financially invested. Still, it is a bit odd to see a company like Apple launch a Tumblr marketing campaign without explicitly attaching their name to it. Maybe they don’t want anyone to know they think the iPhone 5c is dead also?
[Image via Tumblr ]