Apple fans are touted as some of the most loyal in the tech world, vying for information about new product line releases, software updates, and insider tips and tricks to make those hip and trendy devices even more conducive to living the life through a nifty handheld device. Apple is known for its top of the line, and subsequently pricey smart phones, tablets and personal computers, appealing to a world of self-proclaimed hip consumers that are passionate about having the best of the best and willing to pay the price to get just that. Its products have a reputation of taking years to make it to market because it refuses to produce anything that could be deemed subpar. At Fueled we noted the fact that the company's dedicated fan base eagerly bought in to its new iPhone offerings, yet Apple may have lost a notch in its technology belt by delivering a product that was less than "ready" for the masses. The jarring issue?

The Coveted (and Terribly Flawed) Touch ID

As a part of the upgrade to its iPhone product line, Apple released two versions of its smartphone late last year, appealing to a younger, more budget conscious crowd with the 5C and meeting the desires of its traditional crowd of buyers with the mega-enhanced 5S. Although the addition of the less expensive, dulled down version available in brighter, plastic facades proved to be more of a hit than critics expected, the flagship model 5S hardly met expectations – for either Apple or its loyal buyers.

The first issue came when an astonishing number of customers complained of the faulty Touch ID enhancement. In an attempt to stay ahead of market competitors, Apple made the strategic decision to launch the 5S with the much anticipated security feature, utilizing an acquired company's fingerprint scanning technology as the main justification of the higher price tag. To the company's dismay, Touch ID, put simply, failed to work, as customers complained in droves about the disappearance of saved fingerprints and difficulty of the device recognizing a scan as an individual match.

In response to the complaints, Apple promised to and ultimately delivered on the release a software update that would fix the malfunctioning portion of the phone, but reported glitches remain. Some users are still experiencing intermittent misreads of fingerprints as well as the loss of saved information within the phone's cloud memory. The idea of single touch systems in smartphones and tablets is the wave of the future as far as security features are concerned. With more and more users becoming aware of the lacking security, it is inherent to later model pin or passcode features. In order to remain at the forefront of the technology market, and the gold standard in personal device product lines, Apple will need to work diligently to ensure its next round of pricey products are truly worth the hefty price tag. Although the company can't control user error with the new age security feature of its 5S offering, it can take care that the anticipated release of the iPhone 6, slated for the fall of this year, has a higher level of success for customers, and their fingerprints.

Author Bio
This article is written by Ilan Nass from Fueled, an award winning mobile app design and development house based in New York and London.