There will be no “iPhone killer”
All you ever hear from the mobile phone manufacturers and pundits these days is speculation about what phone will “kill” the iPhone. I think this is evidence that they are thinking in a way that will be guarantee that they will be also-rans for as long as Apple make a mobile telephony device (and I think they’ll be doing that for a *long* time).
It shows that they’re asking the wrong question. The flurry of new touchscreen devices – the BlackBerry Storm, the LG Incite (tagline: “Windows Mobile at its most intuitive”, which is kind of like saying “shit at its least smelly”) and so on – show that the boards of mobile phone companies have, in effect, told their R&D teams to create an iPhone clone.
And there’s the problem. You can’t clone the iPhone, because Apple have done such an amazing job on the design, usability and functionality that, if you’re in the market for a touchscreen phone, you’re probably going to automatically choose an iPhone. And that’s before you’ve had a play with your friend’s iPhone. I’ve never owned any other device that has made my friends *laugh* when they see how awesome it is.
There are still a few things that might hold you back: years of hearing that Macs aren’t as good as PCs (just pop into your local Apple Store if you want to find out how wrong-headed that is), the price of the monthly contract, and maybe not wanting to be on O2 due to coverage issues in your area (or AT&T or whoever the carrier is in your country). And you may just not want to be a sheep. But once the exclusive deals expire, surely the iPhone will be available on all networks and most of those concerns will go away.
But there are still a huge number of people who are not in the market for an iPhone at all. People who don’t want such a large phone, who don’t want email, or an iPod on their phone, or a mobile gaming device, who probably don’t even need a camera, and who will probably never download apps. Although the iPhone has been a massive success – when very few predicted it would be – it still only has a fraction of the market for handsets.
I boldly predict that the next big-selling phone will be designed by people who look at the iPhone and ask: “who isn’t going to want one of these?”, “why?”, and “how can we build them a phone they *do* want?” Until then, Apple will continue to eat the establish players’ lunch.
Update: fixed silly typo
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7 Responses to “There will be no “iPhone killer””
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the problem starts with you saying that Macs are equal to PCs. In no way are they, and I deal with both
that said, I love my iPhone and use it all the time. I would have gotten a blackberry had it not come out, and the fact that i could have a phone(smart) and music player together was the only selling point for me
now that i do app reviews, it was a good call
Barga, you’re right, Macs are not equal to PCs, they are far superior. Can you run OSX on a PC, without (illegally according to Apple) modifications? Nope. But you can run Windows on a Mac, and switch between both operating systems, on one computer.
I used to think that PCs were better, but that’s because I never used a Mac. Working in an office with Macs, and using PCs at home, changed me forever. I am now exclusively Mac, but I do have Windows on my PC for whenever I want to get really frustrated.
Stop drinking the Kool-Aid.
@barga: OK, I’m a fanboy. But my intention was not to start off a Windows v Mac flamewar. All I’m saying is that there’s a lot of FUD around people’s aversion to the Mac – and I know because I used to suffer from the same misconception.
People might avoid the iPhone because they believe that Macs are inherently inferior to PCs, but are quickly converted when they see the device. And of course they can use their shiny new iPhone with their lovely PC.
I admit it, OS is better then windows Vista (not W7… snow leopard might be, don’t know yet), but PCs are better than macs
figure out what the means
Eric
I have used both system, Macs are far worse, more expensive, and un cutomizable/reparable by the end user… OSX is good though
It’s still early days for the iPhone, considering it’s only on it’s second iteration and has only been around for 18 months, it’s made an enormous impact.
I think part of the problem is that it’s also an iPod, something a lot of people already own, so even though there’s obviously a benefit to owning one device that does it all, I think a lot of people either can’t justify the cost or don’t see the point if they already have a perfectly good iPod. I do wonder if there will be a higher iPhone uptake in the next couple of years due to older iPods dying out.
And is it really the case that people think of Macs as inferior? Maybe it is. But I feel that much of the problem is that they’re still seen to be geared towards creatives. And the same can be said for the iPhone surely? You’ll hardly ever see someone working in the city using an iPhone, it’s always a Blackberry. That said, I do think that those opinions have changed a lot over even the last few years, and I only think it’s going to gain more momentum over time. Slow and steady wins the race…
I agree about the iPod bit of the iPhone, but then for a lot of users, the iPhone is not an adequate iPod – I have more than 100GB of music I want to take wherever I go, so I need the second device anyway. I’ll be very happy when the iPhone comes in a 160GB version.
I think BlackBerry have been blown off course by the iPhone. Almost everyone I know who has used both devices says that the typing experience on the BlackBerry is far superior to the iPhone. I’m not surprised. Although the iPhone typing experience is way better than I thought it would be, there’s no tactile feedback to tell you when you’ve made a mistake, so you never develop the muscle memory you need to get better. It’s also hard to use two-handed, whereas you regularly see BlackBerry users tapping away with both thumbs.
This is why I find the Storm so incomprehensible. BlackBerry’s approach should be: “if you want a mobile email typewriter, get a Blackberry.” There are loads of people who want that (journalists, for example) and RIM serve that market very very well.
This is exactly the kind of device that can compete effectively with the iPhone because it is *different*, setting out to satisfy a *different* kind of customer. But just making a knock off iPhone is not going to work – especially since I’m sure Apple are busy making something even better.
RIM and friends are just volunteering to give Apple a 6-9 month head-start on every model iteration. And the biggest victims of El Jobso’s Reality Distortion Field have been Apple’s competitors.
I actually think that it was easier to type on the iPhone, as it forgave my fat fingers (center of pressure) instead of me hitting many keys at once