Why 2 new iPhones may not become golden cash cows

iPhone 5S and 5C facing hurdles.

"The lower-end iPhone is to address price competition in an increasingly commoditizing market, but the likes of Lenovo and ZTE achieve sufficient quality at much lower cost," said Ronald Klingebiel, Assistant Professor of Strategy at Warwick Business School, in a comment after Apple announced its new iPhone 5S and 5C models.

"At the upper end, the business model is about to change. There is a chance that the majority of value capture, which had migrated from the handset to the combination of OS and app store, will move on to apps themselves, reducing the cut for middle men," Klingebiel added.

The professor also said there is also a threat from new entrants "to prise open the tight lock between handsets, operating systems, and app stores" citing how Sailfish, Ubuntu, Firefox, and even Tizen are offering next-generation operating systems that support the trend towards interoperable html-based apps.

"This could lead to an unbundling of the industry value chain and reduce Apple’s possibility to extract value from the iOS-app store nexus," said Klingebiel.

If you've been wondering whether SBR could work for your company — yes, probably.

A lot of the companies we partner with started as readers. They'd been following our coverage for a while, saw their own customers and competitors in it, and eventually asked the obvious question: could we do something with you? The answer is usually yes. The shape of it depends on what you're trying to do.

The options are broader than most people assume — thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. Some partners use one channel; most use a mix. We figure out the right combination by starting with your brief, not with our rate card.

So if the question has been on your mind, here's the easy way to ask it.

We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and how. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia