bloodline wrote:
If the iPhone is so bad... why is it that EVERY other manufacturer is now playing catch up...
In what sense are they playing catch up? There are large numbers of areas that the Iphone is playing catch up (only just getting 3G). And anyway, why is it wrong if manufacturers copy a feature first in the Iphone, considering that most of the Iphone's features were copied off of all the phones that came previously?
I don't see any other manufacturer bringing out something totally different, or something that has prompted people to want to queue outside stores to obtain!
This is a marketing achievement sure - clearly it wasn't that Apple were first with 3G. But in what sense was the Iphone "totally different"?
In fact I've not seen a single advert for another Mobile that has focused on anything other than the features which the iPhone has...
Which features are these? I suspect they are simply focusing on features that phones have full stop, and you are just assuming that it is a comparison to the Iphone.
It has been highlighted most by what has happened in Japan. The market has been driven by features, but the iPhone has changed all that.
What, by not having features?
Market research has shown time, and time again, most people use 10% of a phone's features 90% of the time!
How does this make the Iphone better?
What Apple do is actually quite simple. Only include the basic minimum features and then make them work in the most natural way possible. They look at how people use devices and then perfect that interface.
If I only want the basic minimum of features, then why would I spend all that money? They 10% of phone features that most people use (which is most likely just phone calls and SMS, and perhaps some simple browsing or taking photos) can be had in a dirt cheap phone.
By assuming that most people want to load up their phones with mp3s and view the Internet on them all day, I don't see this is any different to the other phones that assume people want to take videos/photos ... and play mp3s and view the Internet on them all day. I also find it unlikely that the proportion of people using mp3s and Internet browsing on their phones is higher than the proportion who use MMS.
In summary, I don't think it's true that the Iphone has trimmed down on a core set of features any more than any other phone, and secondly, I wouldn't want to pay more for the privilege of fewer features, when I could pay less instead. (I also find it rather odd that lacking standard features is twisted to be a good thing, but then this is a common argument for Apple products - even bad points are cited as being good points.)