Every complaint I've seen against the 5c was that it looked unprofessional, was too colorful, or looked cheap.
People didn't buy the 5s over the 5c because it was expensive or offered more features or power. They bought it because it was the only option that looked like a phone and didn't attempt to call attention to itself as a fashion statement.
Apple banked on the lower price offering requiring further differentiation and uniqueness to sell well. In fact, it requires less differentiation and more generic appeal to be acceptable to the larger market.
They designed themselves into a tight niche, instead of opening themselves to a real market. Big mistake.
This is a common mistake. The 5C was not lower priced, that was a pre-announcement rumor that turned out to be incorrect. The 5C was lower costing to make. It was intentionally made to "look cheaper" because they didn't want to offer the 5 as the 2nd phone they felt not enough people would buy the high end 5S. Now they sold fewer 5C's than they would have if they used the 5 but more 5S's and made more money because of the cheaper parts for the 5C.
> larger market.., instead of opening themselves to a real market. Big mistake.
Last I checked Apple makes more than half of the industry profits. I'm sure they would shocked to learn that they have missed the "real market"
This is the first time I read this point of view. I don’t think it is as widely shared as you believe. Every complaint I read about the 5C is that it is not cheap enough.
