Symbian in Motion

Don’t Hate the Player, Love the Game

by Zach at 9:03 am | June 07th, 2007 | Category: Tangents

Following my short post yesterday about the iPhone commercials, I received a good comment from Jonny Bruha and a couple of emails that prompted a response. Rather than respond to everyone individually I thought I would do it here in a public forum, so that I could make my feelings about the iPhone known. I think that I’m probably in the majority here but there are many people who seem to automatically dislike the iPhone - perhaps because it threatens their manufacturer of choice. Now of course I’m not saying that my last statement applies to Jonny or even anyone who emailed me, but read through the forums that are popular hang-outs for Nokia fanboys and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Apple: What it is, and what it ain’t…

Simply put, Apple has some of the best programmers, designers, and think-men in the game. We know this. Their products and services are incredibly well designed, well executed, well advertised and marketed, and revolutionary. Do they make THE BEST products and offer THE BEST services? No. What they do however, is change the way that a consumer looks at a certain type of product. Let me elaborate…

Is the iPod the best PMP on the market? In my opinion no, it is not. What is the iPod though? It is an incredible device that changed the way that the consumer listens to music. It wasn’t the first MP3 player - that title belongs to Saehan’s MPMan which was first released in Asian markets in the spring of 1998. The iPod wasn’t the first hard drive-based MP3 Player either - Remote Solutions’ Portable Jukebox PJB-100 was released in 1999. In 2001 however, Apple released the iPod. They designed it right, they built it right, they marketed it right, they advertised it right; and the rest is history. Now PMPs are a multi-billion dollar per year market that will only continue to grow. This is thanks to Apple.

And what about iTunes - is it the best music downloading service available? That’s a big “no” as well. But just like the iPod revolutionized PMPs, iTunes has popularized the concept of purchasing and downloading digital media and changed the way that companies deliver content to the consumer.

iPhone: What it is, and what it ain’t…

So what about the iPhone? While is certainly isn’t as revolutionary as the iPod or iTunes, it is still a revolutionary device in many ways. Most importantly, the iPhone will change the mobile market - and you can bank on that - in a major way.

The iPhone will put a “smart” device into the hands of a consumer who wouldn’t have purchased a smartphone otherwise. The “RAZR demographic” will be purchasing iPhones in droves. This means that they will come to love the versatility and functionality that a smart device facilitates and more importantly, they will come to “expect” these features in any future device that they consider purchasing. P2k just won’t cut it anymore…

In terms of technology the iPhone is nothing overly spectacular and in terms of functionality the iPhone is no where near many smart devices currently on the market (although I’m confident that we will see the dev kit Jonny mentioned available to developers in the very near future). The design and implementation on the iPhone are simply phenomenal though and the UI is a work of art. Just as with the other industries that Apple has tackled, mobile phone manufacturers are now forced to play catch up if they hope to maintain a decent market share amongst the most coveted of demographics. They will catch up and even pass Apple’s current and future offerings in terms of design, implementation, and even UI - but the iPhone will have been the flame under their proverbial asses that forced them to do so.

We will see fascinating things in the future of mobile phones with or without the release of the iPhone, that’s for sure. What Apple has done with the iPhone though - just as they did with the iPod and iTunes - is turn a linear curve into an exponential curve. I’m excited and you should be too!

I’m a Symbian guy (and an apps guy!) and the iPhone isn’t going to do anything to change that. In two or three years however when I’m unboxing my new Symbian-based Nokia with an amazing new UI and a feature-set that drops my jaw, in large part I’ll have Apple and the iPhone to thank.

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Viewing 4 Comments

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    Let's face it, any Symbian or smartphone techno geek isn't going to find the iPhone interesting, it's got a measly 2MP camera, touchscreen that isn't accepted by all, no 3G. But what it does have is a built in hardrive with bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, it's still an average gadget, but what it will do as Zach has clearly pointed out, it will push the barrier and standards for mobile phones and smartphones to the next level.

    I personally won't be getting one, but I will thank Apple for making the current manufacturers to pull their thumbs out.
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    Again, you're right on. I'm actually a perfect example of how Apple changed the market. My first MP3 player was a 3rd gen iPod, which I upgraded to a 5.5th gen Video iPod some years later. It was only when I got so tired of converting video with Videora to work with it that I started looking elsewhere and came across Creative and their line of products. I read up on everything, including the Zune, the Zen, products from iRiver, and made my choice based on what I read.

    The point is that the iPod was still the gateway. I had never dreamed of using an MP3 player until my friends were all using 20gb iPods. Apple revolutionized the MP3 industry with a device that certainly wasn't the best available (even at the time), and they're about to do it again. It's probably not going to take over nearly as fast the iPod did due to the price point, but it's going to make that RAZR user start to look into what else is out there.

    It's frustrating because I know I'm going to see tons of iPhones on every corner, and for that period of time, the masses will be completely ignorant to the idea of a superior product, to the point where it would be a waste of time to argue. Even now, before the device is even released, it's hard widen the tunnel vision of an Apple fanboy who's only impression of Nokia is the bar phone that everyone had 10 years ago.
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    Thanks again Jonny, and once again you're right on. The core difference between the iPod/iTunes and the iPhone is the type of market that they entered/are entering. The iPod and iTunes basically took sleeping markets and flipped them upside down to create booming markets. The iPhone on the other hand is being introduced to a market that is already flourishing. As such, the effects on the consumer will not be as drastic and will not happen quite as quickly - just like you said. The effects on competitors however will occur much quicker I think (and this is what will help further facilitate changes in the consumer). In fact, we're already seeing competitive response!

    One last thing:

    "It’s frustrating because I know I’m going to see tons of iPhones on every corner, and for that period of time, the masses will be completely ignorant to the idea of a superior product"

    In this area I'll take your negative and make it a positive. I think that the scenario you describe is a good thing for several reasons. The biggest reason is that while Nokia continues to ignore the pleas of countless American consumers and bloggers (like me), they're still a business and the numbers won't lie. I can only hope that Nokia will look at the sales numbers that the iPhone is going to put up and realize the potential of the American market - and then DO SOMETHING about it!

    Apple and Nokia are alike in a lot of ways. Nokia started out making boots and Apple - well they used to make computers from what I hear. ;) Maybe Nokia will watch the iPhone and realize that a good approach to the US market can be quite successful...
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    I certainly hope so. It'll either work to everyone's advantage or work against the entire market. Nokia has already turned their back to the US, or at the very least, kept their main focus elsewhere. Hopefully, the iPhone will make them pay attention. If not, they'll do what they have been doing and the situation will only get worse. Americans will have their RAZR's and their iPhones and Nokia will just look the other way.

    BUT! The s60 touch interface is supposed to be right around the corner, so perhaps they are listening. My fingers are crossed. I love having a device that no one has ever seen before, but I'll love seeing a bunch of people running around with hundreds of different s60's even more.

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