The iPhone Plus: a story of Apple, choice, buyer’s doubt and leading versus following
I remember when I bought my first Mac. Lucky enough in having won a scholarship (through the hugely generous family of Helen Gregory), and with parents that offered to match whatever else I put in myself, I worked extra hours like crazy to amass a suitably decent sum of cash.
The problem was then how to spend it. Back then, Mac clones were commonplace and Apple itself looked shaky. Friends desperately tried to talk me down from buying a Mac, seemingly recommending every PC in existence as an alternative.
They had plenty of time to do so. Armed with a half-dozen Mac magazines, I pored over adverts and reviews, trying to figure out the best system for me, then a budding digital-oriented artist, blissfully unaware I’d later have to figure out some kind of career in order to earn money.
In the end, I plumped for the then new and cutting-edge PowerMac 8600/250AV. It was powerful and had video input, enabling me to store 320-by-160-pixel footage at a staggering 12 frames per second. Usefully, it also had a 1 GB Jaz drive, which I’d discover on the run-in to my degree show was possibly the least reliable storage system in creation.
The thing is, I could at the time have bought any one of a dozen machines that would have sufficed. Some would argue the level of choice was great; but I’d say the ‘choice’ was in reality confusion, with so much overlap between products that there was never any clear-cut system that made far more sense than any other. There was no need for so many options. Subsequently, I got more into technology and Apple, but also elegance within design, and was thrilled on hearing Steve Jobs talk about the four-quadrant product grid: one desktop and portable each for pros and consumers.
In today’s smartphone market, most companies are the Apple of old. They issue dozens of products, arguing that choice is great. But choice impacts focus, efficiency and support for companies. For consumers, it gives rise to the confusion I mentioned earlier, and the potential for buyer’s doubt. Tell someone about a great product and they’ll want it. Tell them about ten great products, all very similar, and they might buy nothing, in fear of making the wrong decision.
This is my concern when it comes to rumours regarding a huge iPhone. Reportedly, large phones are still relatively low sellers, and Apple’s taller screen for the iPhone 5 seemed an elegant way to increase screen area without making the device itself huge. Now the suggestion is Apple could make a huge version anyway.
I don’t see how this fits with a modern Apple, and it worryingly reminds me of the Apple of old. Perhaps it thinks it needs for commercial reasons to cast a wider net, but rather than someone wanting the latest iPhone and having to choose merely which capacity is best for them (a tough enough decision), adding another new model to the line-up forces another difficult decision. Placing it somewhat between the iPhone and iPad mini (the iPad mini sitting between the iPad and iPhone) seems borderline ludicrous.
Naturally, some people will nonetheless be find making such a decision, but others won’t; and many will during ownership of their device constantly wonder if they got it right, or whether they’d have been better off with an alternative—not a very Apple scenario, but one that perhaps we will all need to deal with over the coming years.
Do you really think Apple will produce the big-ass iPhone for its primary markets? If so, how will they pitch it? For elders who can’t read the tiny iPhone text but want to make phone calls? For younger people who want to play games on a big screen? As an in-betweener to further cannibalize iPad sales and remove any excuse for someone to buy a Samsung or Kindle device?
For the record, I think they should call it the “big-ass iPhone.”
Instead of switching to an iPhone 5, I recently jumped ship and went with a Galaxy Note II. There’s a pretty simple reason for that. When I bought my first cellphone, it was a phone. I used to to make calls and send text messages. The iPhone isn’t a phone anymore. It’s a computer that also happens to make phone calls.
When I started looking at it like that, the change in screen size from the 4S to the 5 started to look ridiculous. This is my web browser, my email machine, my movie viewer, my wallet, my map, my picture viewer, my gaming system, my calendar, my TV, my book, my newspaper, my graphic novel, my car navigation system.
And Apple managed to get that device’s screen from 3.5 inches to 4 inches.
Of course, there were other reasons for switching away from the iPhone. iPhone users laugh about Android’s openness, implying that it is some kind of moronic abstract ideal, but the simple fact is that I can do a lot more with my Android phone than I ever could with my iPhone. Because it *is* way more open than the iPhone. And yes, I love having a phone with a pressure-sensitive stylus, regardless of what Steve said about styluses.
But the main reason for switching was the screen. 3.5 inches is great for a phone. It’s not really adequate for a book. It’s not really adequate for a graphic novel. It’s not really adequate for a web browser. 5 inches is.
I’ll also say something about choice. Having thousands of slightly different Android devices to choose from is overwhelming. But that’s because these devices are presented poorly, and compete with each other for your attention. If, instead of offering thousands of devices up front, you turn it into a series of questions, it’s much easier to understand. After all, Apple offers tons of different SKUs for each device they sell, but most people aren’t overwhelmed by them.
For example, Apple offers probably about a thousand different MacBook models (not including differences in software), but you don’t really see them. You don’t have to pick one model out of thousands. You pick whether you want a MacBook or an Air, then you pick one out of a small lineup, and then you answer some questions. Done.
In reality, you picked a device out of thousand possible devices, but it didn’t feel that way at all.
[…] att Apple ska ta ett sådant här steg krävs däremot mer än att konkurrenter har snubblat över ett segment där Apple inte finns. Frågan är också hur ett nytt storlekssegment ska positioneras gentemot […]