Dear Apple, don’t try to be Nokia

In an effort to get into the emerging markets and get design-obsessed people wandering around with a bright iSomething, Apple has released the iPhone 5C. It’s pretty much the iPhone 5 with a colourful polycarbonate cover. Hmmm, I wonder who already does that?

Long ago, when the Apple cult was something to lust after, we waited for new iDevices to replace our old Nokias. Steve Jobs made you feel irrelevant if you didn’t worship at the altar of Apple’s innovation, the launch days of pure tech joy.

Now fast-forward to the new Apple. An Apple that isn’t really all that innovative but more emulative (yes it’s a word), a company playing design and innovation catch up… a company trying to be Nokia?

The latest Apple event and one of the devices that came out of it gave me a very distinctive Nokia feel — the good things about Nokia. Aside from the fact that Apple decided to launch a tacky looking device (5S in gold, really?), the iPhone 5C — supposedly targeted at the emerging markets and presented as a low-cost device — caught my eye, and I am sure a few people over at Nokia’s too.

So is Apple trying to be like Nokia? Let me count the ways:

Emerging markets — moving to Nokia’s world

Apple wants to make devices that are cheaper for the emerging markets. Gee, thanks. It’s no secret that Nokia dominates in this world: one of the Finnish company’s biggest claims to fame has been that it has managed to conquer the emerging markets with its feature phones and entry-level smart devices.

Now Apple wants to play in that world too. Do people want cheaper iPhones? Is the point of the iPhone not that it is elite and only a certain cult has it? People like Nokia because it is an every man mobile company, it will make a phone suitable for celebrities, politicians as well as the every day Joe and the Joe who can’t afford more than US$99 — meet the Asha, an emerging market targeted smartphone that has brought Nokia some serious success.

Apple now sells covers in some choice colours

Does anyone remember the Nokia Lumia 620? No? Let’s remind you. It’s Nokia’s smartphone targeted at the younger market with its range of interesting cover colourways such as lime green, yellow and magenta. It’s a funky phone and Nokia has been doing this whole ‘change your cover and make your phone cooler’ thing for a while now. Its Lumia range of smartphones plays with bright primary colours making the devices unique from other smartphones that simply stick to less striking colours such as black, white, silver and maybe dark blue. The bright colours have been a Nokia thing for a while, now everyone wants to do it, from HTC to Motorola, which got in on the action with its Moto X.

So why not Apple I guess. The iPhone 5C reminds me a lot of the Lumia 620. No, Apple’s version of a multicoloured device isn’t doubled layered without the optional silicon case, but you can’t deny the similarities that the devices have in appearance. You could argue that the colours are an evolution of the iPod touch and Nano colours but those have a more electric sheen to them not the crayon colours the Nokia devices, and now the iPhone 5C, have.

Polycarbonate is all the rage now

Everyone is using this material now, but the biggest user of this has been Nokia and now Apple wants to get in on that action. Nokia has used polycarbonate of various colours in its phones starting with the N9 in 2011 and has continued to do so with recent devices like the Lumia 925 and Lumia 1020.

Other mobile manufacturers such as HTC also use polycarbonate, so it’s not just a case of Apple just doing it because Nokia is. It is actually becoming a norm it seems and Apple is playing catchup but in the world where Apple seems to be the king of a select few, it’s quite interesting to see how many will love the new look that is “unapologetically plastic”.

Playing design catch up with iOS 7

Apple worshippers obviously think that some innovation masterpiece has happened here and the company has created an OS to rival others. Truthfully, if you dared to use or look at any other OS, you would see that this has been done already — it’s called Windows Phone and most Nokia devices.

According to an article on popular tech site The Verge, Apple’s new interface is a case of finally catching up to the times and what Windows has been doing since the early days of what was then called Metro.

“The new interface,” says Verge writer Aaron Souppouris, “devoid of leather, felt, and stitching, invites comparisons with Microsoft’s ‘Metro’ UI found on Windows Phone and Windows 8. Apple has played a game of design catch-up to some extent, adding settings toggles, a simpler multitasking interface, and swiping gestures to its OS.”

The latest iteration of the company’s mobile operating system employs a more flat design and does away with all that textured and shadowed look of the previous version (a design school of thought that is quite popular these days). Something Microsoft and Nokia have been using for some time now.

Who will get credit for pioneering a flat design I wonder?