I am officially taking issue with the iPhone 5c.

Why, you ask?

For starters, its marketing scheme is a direct rip-off from the Nokia Lumia 920.

Okay, enough with the one-line-impact-phrases; allow me to explain myself. I am currently the happy and proud owner of three regularly-used devices: the Nokia Lumia 920, which is my business phone, and the HTC One, which is my personal device, and a first-generation iPad, which serves as my regular web-browing and email tool. In owning the Lumia 920 it has quickly become my favorite smartphone, being extremely durable, smooth to use and incorporating a large volume of business-oriented tools like Microsoft Office. When you couple all of that with a phenomenal camera, a scratch-proof screen / scratch-proof body plus great battery life, you get one heck of a phone.

Before I purchase anything, I make darn sure I know what I’m buying – this behavior largely stems from the inevitable truth that I’m very stingy about what I spend money on. That being said, when I looked into purchasing the Lumia 920, I looked into everything, including its hardware, software, and projected market longevity. Now when I say “projected Market Longevity” this is by no means an exact science. I “calculate” market longevity by essentially evaluating the branding and advertising scheme that the company (in this case Nokia) is implementing towards their brand and taking into consideration the company’s marketing budget for said brand and release cycles as a company. From there, I essentially just do my best to judge how long that particular device is going to be marketed, receive updates, and be produced.

So what’s the point of saying all of this?

While I was evaluating Nokia’s strategy for the Lumia 920, I noticed something important: Color was a thing. Nokia was trying to stand out from Apple by breaking away from the stereotypical black and white and producing a series of colorful devices. In fact, one of their most prominent advertising pictures was this photo here:

Look familiar? That might be because it looks a whole lot like this iPhone 5c advertising picture:

Crazy, right? I only pieced this together because of my borderline-obsessive need to know everything about a product before I buy it, but that’s pretty cut and dry. It seems to me that Apple has recognized the consumer interest in color, and is following in Nokia’s footsteps.

So what’s the big deal? It's just color. 

For the consumer, this doesn't mean much. However for the investor, little things like this are a bad sign. I take minute details like this into consideration all the time when making judgments on the future of a company or product, and I am sure that investors do precisely the same thing. Seeing Apple blatantly follow-suit in such a way as this further underscores the company’s recent lack of innovation. With Apple’s failed “Special Event” behind us, where the Cupertino company essentially released more of the same, seeing more signs that Apple is having a difficult time innovating is definitely a scary thing. It’s things like this that cause sharp drops in stocks, and I feel as though Apple carelessly overlooked these small details.

Unfortunately, the list of painful details in the fine print doesn't stop with the whole "color fiasco". There's also the fact that the iPhone 5c launched with its own, unique dock and won't work on any docking devices designed for the iPhone 5s, and then there's the fact that the iPhone 5c even launched at all. 

...wait what? 

Yes, the iPhone 5c being launched in-general is a big, blinking red sign that Apple is struggling to keep its valuation high, meaning that they're concerned about how valuable their company is (because their stocks keep dropping).

This is the point I'm trying to make: the fact that Apple is forcing you to buy unique hardware for the iPhone 5c, combined with a "follow-suit" marketing campaign and the fact that the iPhone 5c was an unneccessary device in the first place shows clearly that the iPhone 5c is nothing more than a blind attempt at turning a high profit on a low-cost item. Apple isn't producing that phone for you or for any consumer - they're producing it to line their pockets.

So, what does this mean for Apple?

I feel as though Apple currently has enough iSheep to still have a good flock after the wolves have fed, but I see a major decline in the company’s valuation in the near future. The iPhone 5c will not be the cause of the decline, but it will certainly be the early warning that most of us miss.

Oh, and although I have no qualms with the iPhone 5s (other than that it’s an overpriced, overglorified iPhone 5) or Apple as a company, I genuinely hope the iPhone 5c is the next Apple Maps. 

top image source found here