What the new iPhone means to marketers

This article was first posted on mumbrella.com.au.

More video on the move and the launch of Passbook are the two most significant things marketers need to consider when the iPhone 5 launches next week, argues Cathie McGinn.

The iPhone 5 launched today, with the usual blend of zealotry and vitriol that has come to typify Apple product releases.

The new data protocols of HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA are supported, as they are on the new iPad – along with ultrafast LTE (4G).

Telstra, Optus, and Virgin (which piggybacks on the Optus network) have been named as the carriers able to provide 4G immediately. It explains why Optus rushed to announce its limited 4G network earlier this month. Telstra is further advanced with its 4G rollout.

It represents good news for content makers who already have mobile in their sights, and it’s definitely indicative of a trend towards greater consumer uptake of high definition content on the go, along with offering a much more creative breadth for mobile display ads.

The new components in the iPhone 5, along with the thinner phone body have necessitated a new adaptor with fewer connecting pins, something that will enrage any Apple fan with a suite of companion products now requiring a clunky adaptor.

One interesting omission is the lack of a near field communication chip, which had been hotly tipped to be the new way of connecting with consumers, with outdoor companies like JC Decaux already investing in the technology. NFC gives consumers the ability to swipe a phone to pay for purchases and is used by Google’s cash free development Google Wallet.

Apple instead is pushing its new closed system Passbook technology, which is being implemented by brands like Virgin Australia. Passbook stores tickets, membership cards, manages tickets, check-ins  and so on, with in-built live updates – for example late flight departure alerts – and is a step towards the digital wallet that Google has already surpassed. Apple is traditionally leery of adopting third party technologies until they have the weight of numbers behind them, but this seems overly cautious, a missed opportunity to give consumers and third parties an open system that works across devices.

YouTube has created its own app which will join the rank and file in the App Store.

The new screen has a 16:9 aspect ratio display, which will doubtless delight the thousands of app developers who will now have to reformat every single app design. This is going to represent a significant cost in aggregate terms and seems a blunder from Apple. Until the app icons are updated they will display a letterboxed version.

In other good news for fans of function and form, Apple will be replacing their uncomfortable headphones at last with the new EarPods which may actually fit the human ear, and has launched a redesign of iTunes to showcase content in a new, sleeker and aesthetically pleasing platform.

Overall, there’s nothing unforeseen and nothing that represents a huge leap forwards. It does suggest that marketers who aren’t considering how to reach the consumer on the move already need to get galvanised to do so or risk losing the opportunity altogether. Passbook is the single most important marketing issue to focus on, I’d argue.

But fans will doubtless queue in droves at Apple stores on the 21st of September, and the slick presentation images plus the classic Apple copyboggling of quotes like “anodised aluminium body with diamond cut chamfered edges and glass inlays for a truly incredible fit and finish” might persuade iPhone 4 owners to consign perfectly working telephones to landfill regardless.

Cathie McGinn