Does Apple Finally Have Some Real Competition?

Both phones come from the former Apple employees own brand, Obi Worldphone, and are marketed for emerging markets. This might not sound like a big deal, but both are mid-rangers and designed by Ammunition, a studio that was founded by Robert Brunner - who also worked at Apple, as Jony Ive’s predecessor. You know that old saying, you need a snake, to kill a snake? Yeah.

So remember that time that Steve Jobs was ousted out of Apple back in 1985? Yeah, well actually, it was by his friend, John Sculley, who then took over as CEO until 1993. In fact, Jobs personally headhunted Sculley from Pepsi back in 1983 to use his marketing skills to turn Apple into the brand it is today. And thanks mainly to Sculley’s marketing, the Macintosh computer sold so well, that it created a power struggle between the two. To be fair to both, a lot of it had to do with the board of directions finding Jobs to be a little bit fascist (running meetings until midnight, only to regroup at 7:00 am). After being instructed to “contain” Jobs, Sculley found out that Jobs was attempting to oust him from leadership altogether. Sculley went to the board, who obviously sided with him, and Jobs was stripped of all managerial rights. And because everyone knows Jobs was a bit of a proud, snobby baby, he stomped his foot and resigned.

Fast forward to 1993, and a bunch of bad decisions later, Sculley was also ousted by the same fickle Apple board of directions. In 1997, Jobs came back as an advisor, and the rest, as they say, is history.

So, what’s the big deal? Why am I dragging up this blast from the blast? I’m happy you asked.

The now 74-year-old Sculley is soon launching two brand new Android smartphones. Both phones come from the former Apple employees own brand, Obi Worldphone, and are marketed for emerging markets. This might not sound like a big deal, but both are mid-rangers and designed by Ammunition, a studio that was founded by Robert Brunner - who also worked at Apple, as Jony Ive’s predecessor. You know that old saying, you need a snake, to kill a snake? Yeah.

The two handsets themselves are incredibly exceptional for mid-ranges. The SF1 flagship boasts a 5-inch display with an unremarkable 1080 pixel resolution (or 443 pixels per inch), but it has a 64-bit Snapdragon 615 processor that is lightning fast, alongside 2 or 3 GB of RAM, depending on the variant, and 16 or 32 GB of internal storage that will be expandable with microSD. It has a battery of 3000 mAh (which is better than Apple). Interestingly, it has an impressive 13-megapixel shooter (Sony IMX 214) that takes two shots (one with flash, and one without, to produce the best image) coupled with a 5-megapixel front snapper. Obviously, it has 4GB and Android 5.1.

The just-a-bit inferior phone called the SJ1.5 has a 5-inch display with a lower 720-pixel resolution (or 294 pixels per inch), and it has a MediaTek quad-core processor that has been clocked at 1.3GHz, alongside 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage that is expandable via microSD. It has an 8-megapixel primary snapper, coupled with 5 megapixels on the front. It also has a 3000 mAh battery, so take that Apple.

Could this be the beginning of the end for Apple? I wouldn’t bet against him.  

Nothing astounding, but again, this is targeted for emerging markets (for now). Both devices will launch in October.

The real question is, what does this mean? Sculley has had an incredible track record of making the right bets and placing his money in the right places, especially in tech. Could this be the beginning of the end for Apple? I wouldn’t bet against him.