Wondering What Is Coming In 2012 From Apple?

I am curious as to what 2012 will bring from Apple. There are numerous rumors, but nothing really credible about the strategy for the year ahead. I am looking forward to seeing whether we will see a new iPhone and what is going to stay within the iPod business. Even though the iPhone 4S looks good there is no major incentive for buying it if the iPhone 5 is just around the corner – and I don’t think I’m the only one wondering about this.

Similarly, in the field of iPods the iPod Classic is still worth considering, but now that cameras are also inserted into the iPod Touch, it’s definitely worth considering even though the Classic can contain up to 160Gb. So everything depends on whether you are just moving around your daily business, or planning to go on a vacation. On vacation you might want to skip bringing your notebook and simply install a mail client as an app on an iPod Touch, and bring music and videos on your iPod Classic – or that would be my choice anyway.

Similarly in the field of laptops the selection is huge, and sometimes I think simplifying the alternatives would be great. This might be why you can indeed compare alternatives when browing the Apple website. Confusion is never good as customers might end up with the wrong product.

For the European market the question of warranties still haunts Apple. Here in Denmark they MUST supply a full 2 year warranty for free, yet they remain very determined not to offer the legal requirement, but only a one year warranty. A decision may impose strict fines to Apple if they don’t start complying with this requirement.

So 2012 IS potentially a very eventful year for the Apple brand – both locally and globally. Now that Jobs is no longer around, strategies will have to be made to convince customers they are still in the lead. Otherwise market shares might go down, so I will be watching this very closely, so stay tuned.

Happy New Year everyone. 🙂

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