No, I am not talking about Motorola’s 2004 flip-phone, but a real razor.
While following Apple’s keynote yesterday, with the introduction of the “new” iPhone 11, I couldn’t help remembering Gillette 15-20 years ago. Every now and then, the company (which was still independent and listed at that time) would get extensive coverage by the financial media and the analyst community around the launch of a new razor with one more blade than the previous model. Initially, there were two, then three, four and five, and then one more at the back, and the question was “how many blades can they squeeze into a single razor, to keep growth going?”
Well, it looks like Apple is following the same path: just like Gillette was adding blades, Apple seems to be adding cameras, and pixels inside those cameras. How many can they fit into a single smartphone, and how long will consumers fall for that kind of “novelty” ? Time will tell but it looks like a strong success will be required in the crowded area of services for Apple to regain its Growth stock status. Or, maybe, they have something serious (such as a game-changing foldable screen) in the pipe on the hardware side, and just want to make it perfect before they launch.
Hubert Goyé