How Apple can make the iPhone 5C a success

The iPhone 5C is seen as Apple’s answer to the hordes of low-cost Android smartphones that are dominating the Indian smartphone market. But as is the case with any Apple product, it will still have quality fit and finish and will command a very Apple price in the market. Even so, the iPhone 5C could change the smartphone game in the country and other markets like China, as well as emerging markets in Asia and Latin America. It could very well be a success, but here are a few hooks Apple can include that would be hard to ignore.

Dual-SIM
Dual-SIM is often seen as a stigma, but in Apple’s case it could be a nutcracker. Dual-SIM phones have a huge market in Asian countries and recently, even HTC departed from its sacred unibody design to bring an HTC One with two SIM slots to India and China. The boom of dual-SIM smartphones is hard to miss if you are in these countries, where it’s a much-desired feature. Almost all smartphones by local brands have two SIM slots and exceptions are very few.

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The 5C is expected in several colours

Full-blown iOS 7 experience
There has always been a doubt or two about the kind of iOS experience the cheaper iPhone would get. Would it be strapped with a ‘lite’ version of the OS, which is better suited for the less powerful hardware that’s expected to bring down the cost of the phone? It is crucial that Apple brings the full iOS 7 experience to the iPhone 5C. That means a full-featured Siri experience, complete Airdrop support (would serve to strengthen that feature as well) and all the snazzy parallax effect animations of the wallpaper. Anything less and it would alienate the iPhone 5C users from the iPhone 5S hordes. So if Apple brings the whole shebang to the iPhone 5C it will be a rather sweet deal.

LTE
We’ve already spoken about how an iPhone 5C with LTE could be a huge coup. And recently there have been reports of Apple signing a deal with China Mobile for a TD-LTE-supporting iPhone 5C. That’s the same band that is in use in India and with nationwide 4G coming end of the year, it could be a good opportunity for Apple to ride the wave of early popularity with an LTE iPhone 5C.

Will the iOS 7 experience be limited for the 5C?

C for colours
If you were to look at the recent smartphone launches, you would think the world has been starved of colourful smartphones for years. There have been a slew of peppy, brightly coloured phones that have been released recently. And we are not just talking about Nokia Lumias. HTC launched bright blue versions of the One and One Mini; Samsung has a bevy of colours for the Galaxy Note 3; the Moto X has an online customisation tool. It does seem like manufacturers are only now waking up to the fact that smartphones are very personal devices. While we know that the iPhone 5C will be available in various colours, Apple could score brownie points by having swappable back colours.

A great advantage for colourful smartphones - where there’s colour, there are accessories. Apple earned rich rewards by milking that market with the first few iPhones. iPhones sell accessories, but one wouldn’t be wrong in saying that accessories also sell iPhones. Now that the iKnick-Knack industry is beginning to focus on new Lightning-ready accessories, a dash of colour to speakers or bedside docks will make the iPhone 5C a truly attractive proposition.

A leaked image of the iPhone 5C packaging (Image credit:iApps.im)

Have any thoughts on how Apple can make the iPhone 5C a hit? Let us know in the comments. As always, we will be covering the iPhone event as it happens to bring you the latest iPhone 5S and 5C news. Stay tuned to tech2 for the full coverage.