Headline September 19, 2017/ ''' $1,000 -DREAM-iPHONE- !WOW!? '''

''' $1,000 -DREAM-iPHONE- !WOW!? '''

*THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE iPHONE* :  

Before, any body outside Apple was aware of it, the project that would become the iPhone was refereed to internally by the code name Purple.

No one seems to remember exactly why; it may have been named after a toy purple kangaroo that belonged to one of the engineers.

But come the moment, of the year 2017-  in the run-up to the new model launch, with just days to go, this is what the experts figured that : $1,000 iPhone risked chilling Apple abroad  

WHEN APPLE unveils its new top-of-the-line iPhone, it just isn't expected to offer features like infrared facial recognition and wireless charging for the first time.

The company will also enter new territory on price : The latest phone will start about  $1,000 compared with the $769 minimum for its current top phone, the iPhone 7 plus.

''It's a whole new threshold,'' said Debby Ruth, a senior vice president of the tech-consulting firm Frank N. Majid Associates. I really do think it's going to make people pause.''

From the iPhone's introduction a decade ago. Apple has always priced it as a premium product  -a more refined and polished alternative to the legions of cheaper smartphones available in the market.

But this time, the company is pushing into luxury territory. The new phone will cost as much as the company's entry level MacBook Air laptop. 

''They're doubling down on their strategy : They are going much more to the high end,'' Ms. Ruth said.

Apple declined to comment before the product announcement scheduled for later Tuesday at the time.  [On Saturday, leading up to the Tuesday, Steven Troughton-Smith, a developer combed through iOS II software, found references indicating that the new high-end phone will be called the iPhone X.]

Investors are betting that Apple's move up the price ladder will pay off with much higher profits, especially in mature markets like the United States and Western Europe, where many of the buyers will be people upgrading from older iPhones.

The company's stock has risen by nearly 50 percent over the past year as anticipation has built about the 2017 models.

Apples strategy carries risks, however, especially in developing countries, where smartphone sales are growing briskly but its market share is a blip compared with devices running Google's Android software.

In Brazil, for example, Apple devices will account for just  8%  of the  125 million active smartphone subscriptions this year, according to Forrester, a research firm.

Steep taxes, higher retail profit margins, and added costs from botched attempt at building iPhone in Brazil have pushed the price of an iPhone 6s, a two year-old model, to more than $1,000 at Casa Bahia, a store in the Copacabana neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.

In late August, the retailer was selling Apple's most basic smartphone, the iPhone SE, for more than $600, while a Samsung Galaxy J1 Mini, which runs Android was just just $136.

At another Rio store recently, Vanessa Perreira, 25, a university student, was browsing the 65 models on display, looking at the offerings from Samsung and LG but ignoring the six from Apple.

She once owned an iPhone, she lamented, but could not afford to continue buying them.

''Price is the most important factor for me,'' she said.

Still, the  iPhone is coveted by wealthier Brazilians, many of whom buy the iPhone while travelling abroad to avoid their country's high costs. 

''There will always be users in Brazil that will be interested in buying it,'' said Tina Lu, a senior analyst with  Counterpoint Research.

China's reception to the  $1,000 iPhone will be even more crucial to Apple. The Greater China region,  which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, contributed $8 billion to Apple's revenues last quarter, but sales have been sluggish.

Apple's market share has declined slightly in China over the past year, according to Counterpoint. High-end phones from Chinese brands like Huawei and Oppo have gained ground, in part by undercutting Apple on price.

The new iPhone has the potential to reverse the trend. More than other tech product, the  iPhone has long denoted status in China.

If a new iPhone looks the same as the previous one -and won't be recognized by others as new  -it often doesn't sell well.

If the iPhone's appearance changes, I think people are going to be crazy about it, because we've seen the iPhone with a similar look for such a long time now,'' said He Peihuan, a Shanghai based financial analyst.

But then, How is the iPhone faring against Android around the Globe? And to that add Satish Meena's theory of iPhone adoption in developing countries.

Mr. Meena, a senior forecast analyst at Forrester who is based in New Delhi. said that in places like India and Brazil, where millions of new smartphone users are entering the market-

The first phone that people buy is a cheap Android. The second tends to be fancier Android. Finally they upgrade to an iPhone. 

''The iPhone is your dream phone,'' he said.   

The World Students Society thanks Vinod Sreeharsha/Rio de Janeiro, and Paul Mozur and Carolyn Zhang/Shanghai.

At !WOW!, I for one wonder what phones are Merium, Rabo, Haleema, Zilli, Dee, Saima, Eman, Seher, and  Lakshmi have? Are you heroes buying the latest iPhone? 

To cheer, CEO Tim Cook, well, Sir,....*these girls, are some of your most knowledgeable and best customers, fans and even devotees!      

With respectful dedication to Apple/iPhone, to all and every Active smartphone subscriber, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW!  -the Ecosystem 2011:

'' Apple & Android '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless