Everyone knows that Apple is one of the greatest technological innovators of our time and continually launches new and innovative products and services. They hit their first real home run when they came out with the original iPod, whereas now you can carry 1,000 songs in your pocket. That phrase stuck to his company’s core idea of simple brands for beautiful products. But what are the next products and services that Apple will introduce? What will be the next big Apple News? Here are some of our predictions for Apple products in 2011.
Huge iPhone Incentives With the latest release of the Verizon iPhone, there will now be new competition for the iPhone market. AT&T has dominated this market so far solely because of its exclusive relationship with Apple, which I think has helped the popularity of the iPhone in the long run. Exclusivity has kept the cost of the iPhone high, making it the luxury product of the phone market. But with the new competition in the market, both Verizon and AT&T will compete to gain market share with the iPhone and thus a price war will start. Both will try to offer better incentives for the iPhone, which will significantly reduce the initial costs to be competitive. The price of phone and data places will likely stay the same, and it will be where carriers make up the difference in lower costs.
Apple Stock Soars It won’t be a surprise if Apple stock continues to rise significantly in price. As I write this article in January 2011, the price is currently around $340. That will continue to rise steadily over the next year and will probably hit over $400 by the end of the year. It may go even higher than that, depending on what other improvements and announcements are made in the third and fourth quarters of 2011.
Macs Gain Market Share Macintosh computers have steadily gained market share in the industry over the last decade and will continue to grow. Their higher price has kept them the luxury product on the market, but their longevity, function, and value have kept demand very high. They have continued to diversify their types of computers and applications over the last few months, and will only continue to do so in 2011. With an increase in software development, more people will be willing and able to make the switch, and they won’t be disappointed at all with the Mac.
MacBooks drop in price The current line of MacBook Pro computers has solidly entrenched Macs in the laptop industry. They offer phenomenal products and a slightly higher but affordable price. So far, your regular MacBook has gotten a bit sloppy in the process. But I think that around the same time they release OS X Lion in the summer of 2011, they will have made some major refreshes to the MacBook laptops. They will be smaller, more powerful and, most importantly, cheaper. Apple already has products that compete with larger laptops and smaller netbooks, but they really need to have something to compete for the entry-level laptop. If they can get the price of the computer down to $800-900 with some improvements, they will make a breakthrough in the market.
New wave in software development Due to the recent introduction of the Mac App Store, there will be a new wave in the development of software and applications for Mac computers. More companies will write their programs for the Mac and reap the benefits of doing so. In 2010, Autodesk introduced its flagship product, AutoCad, on the Mac, which opened the door for many technical professionals to switch to Mac. More and more software developers will do the same to reach the PC to Mac switcher market. It will be especially true in the business environment, which is traditionally dominated by Windows. More software will be web-based and more applications will be available on the Mac, causing many to look back at Mac laptops.