Will consumers take a bite of Apple's iPhone?

• Comment
• Recommend
• Tweet
• 

An interesting piece on why Apple's iPhone is likely to take a Red Delicious-sized bite of the market than a McIntosh-sized share.

From Fastcompany.com:

Apple experts, such as MacWorld's Chris Breen, and Editorial Director Jason Snell, argue that the company is unlikely to dominate the cell phone market the way it does the music player market. First and foremost, the iPod entered a far less competitive and well populated market than the one the iPhone will have to crack. Additionally, Apple has limited itself by committing to Cingular, which has a customer base of about 60 million. It is notable that 55 percent of those polled in the ChangeWave survey expressed satisfaction with their existing cell phones -- indicating no intention of switching networks.

Standing in a Verizon Wireless store a few weeks ago I observed as customers of all ages ran around from display model to display model, talking about what the phone does and how it looks.

Not once do I recall hearing anyone ask, "Well, how's the reception?" or "Does this one drop a lot of calls?"

There's a fine line between pleasure and usefulness, and the carriers are certainly learning to walk that line.

• Comment
• Recommend
• Tweet
• 

0 comments on "Will consumers take a bite of Apple's iPhone?".

1. Bryan Murley from Emory & Henry College
   

   commented on: June 4, 2007 at 8:32 a.m.
   I agree that not a lot of people will switch carriers, unless they're given some huge financial incentive to do so. But the bigger issue is that the carriers are walled gardens, which limits the growth of the mobile industry. You can't take one phone from one carrier to another. It's not because of the phones - which all use basically the same technology. It's the selfish business interests of the individual carriers. It would be great if the iPhone were carrier independent, but that's not going to happen as long as carriers are pig-headed and lock users into long-term contracts and phones that aren't cross-carrier compatible.
2. Michael Reilly
   

   commented on: June 4, 2007 at 5:24 p.m.
   As a Verizon subscriber I would prefer to stick with Verizon as well. They have the best network in my experience, but that changes every year as companies upgrade their networks. And apparently people aren't basing their decisions on that alone. Almost every person I know with a Sprint phone hates the service quality, but they continue to stay with Sprint. Apparently Apple went to Verizon first and they declined because Apple wanted too much control over the phone. Big mistake I imagine. Cingular saw that the benefit of Apple outweighed their need for control. Personally I would rather they stuck with the Cingular name, doesn't AT&T understand that their brand reminds us we're dealing with a faceless corporation bent on global domination? I'm willing to switch if the phone is cool enough and I don't find service problems within the 3 or 5 day return period. Assuming Apple releases the rumored SDK for it, the potential that exists for the iPhone is huge.
3. Shawn Queener from Scripps Networks
   

   commented on: June 11, 2007 at 10:01 a.m.
   May be I'm a minority, but I'm "chompin" at the bits for the iPhone. I'm a current Verizon customer and I can't wait for my contract to end this November. It's gonna be a long 5 months. Neither company, Cingular nor Verizon, is any better than the other in my opinion. It all depends on where you are standing. True example....I can be at the ball field watching my nephew play and can't get a single bar with Verizon; meanwhile, my sister-in-law stands right next to me with Cingular and has total connection. To be able to have my phone, iPod, and a camera phone capable of printing 4x6 prints (2mp is needed for 4x6...and hopefully the shutter speed is ok) in one pocket...wow, I think I'm in love. Now, if I can only find a way to lessen the junk on my wife's keychain that I'm so often required to stick in my pocket.
4. Lorri Randle
   

   commented on: June 11, 2007 at 11:05 a.m.
   I do know that when the iPhone was announced all of us here in Utah cheered. But when it was announced that the sole provider was cingular, there was a HUGE groan throughout the state. Cingular in Utah has really bad reception-the customer service is great, but you can't hear anything on the phone. We use to be with Verizon and would have stayed-they are the best all around, but their data service plan was about $50 more than Sprint's. So we made the change to Sprint. But you would have seen us in the store asking about the reception, maybe we are the odd type of customer now... While we are still drooling over the iPhone, we don't plan to switch carriers any time before our two year contract is up just to use the iPhone when I've got my email, web browsing, text and docs all on my new Treo.

Leave a Comment