Former Apple CEO praises Samsung, suggests greater focus on emerging markets needed – cheap iPhone could do the trick
Overshadowing talk of even the potential iPhone 5S or iPhone 6 in tech circles currently is the possibility that Apple could be planning to launch a low-cost iPhone in the coming months. Though conflicting reports are seeing the possibility seesaw between a “yay” or a “nay” from the Cupertino company, there’s at least one notable person suggesting a cheap iPhone wouldn’t be a bad idea; former Apple CEO John Sculley.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Sculley said that Apple “needs to adapt to a very different world” that’s increasingly seeing emerging markets as the key to continued growth.
“As we go from $500 smartphones to even as low, for some companies, as $100 for a smartphone, you’ve got to dramatically rethink the supply chain and how you can make these products and do it profitably,” said Sculley.
Sculley pointed to Samsung, who have mobile devices at every end of the pricing spectrum, as an “extraordinarily good competitor,” saying that “the differentiation between a Samsung Galaxy and an iPhone 5 is not as great as we used to see.”
Whether or not current CEO Tim Cook will heed Sculley’s advice remains to be seen. Sculley’s time as head of Apple was a colourful period for the company which saw not only a large period of growth for the Cupertino firm but also the ousting of the visionary Steve Jobs in 1985, before a dip in fortunes saw Sculley himself given the boot in 1993.
