[PCWorld]

Post your comments for The 'iPhone Killer' Doesn't Exist here

[benfegore]

It's almost comical how many people regard any new feature phone as the next iPhone Killer, especially funny is when people say 'the iPhone is only catching up with copy and paste' or other features that used to be on phones many years ago.
I have had a Nokia which can browse the web, copy and paste, do mms, record voice, play mp3s, do voice dialling, play and record video, keep track of my address book, take notes, it also has an alarm clock, has different ring tones, has some java games, has a replacable battery, takes pictures, it has everything the iPhone has but I never ever used any of those features.
The only thing I use it for is calls but I don't do that many calls on my mobile so that feature is pretty secondary to me, the real feature I need is visual voice mail, as I receive a lot of calls and it saves me to listen to dozens of junk calls to get to the commercially important messages.
Add to that that I never been a gamer and now I enjoy playing casual games while on the move or waiting.
And some people still don't understand how the iPhone changed the game.

[epgomez]

Yes in the US it doesn't exist. In europe ans asia which is the majority the iphone has been killed several times.

[benfegore]

How do you kill something 'several times'? Who killed it several times and is that a specific European or Asian thing? Or are you expecting the iPhone to perhaps come back from the dead to be killed yet another time?

[Undefined]

This is the same as as those games considered to be Halo-Killers. No game will ever beat Halo. No phone will ever beat the iphone. Period.

[thewazak]

I just had a bad day at work.
I knew reading a few FanBoy comments would give me a good laugh and cheer me up ......

[duane534]

Actually, the BlackBerry Curve has been killing the iPhone for about six months now. In sales. In features. In users. In apps...

[benfegore]

has it been killing the phone over the whole period as in a very slow killing? or did it kill the iPhone several times as the previous poster observed? Did it kill the iPhone only in Europe and Asia or did it kill the iPhone across the whole world?

[dbcad7]

The Pre sales were limited by Sprints initial manufacturing number, not lack of demand.

The idea of a "killer" is stupid.. some people are going to order what they want, others what they think is trendy.. However, All the major carriers in the US will be selling android phones from a variety of manufacturers.. will one phone be your killer ? no, but as a platform.. It's going to kick some butt.. If you don't think HTC, Motorola, or Samsung can are going to sell a ton of these.. your in for a shock.. And as the android app store is going to have customers from MULTIPLE carriers and MULTIPLE manufacturers it is not a market app developers are going to overlook.. See you in a years time and write the same story.

[benfegore]

you mean like the winmo app store?

[DanielSpyre]

Why do people get so bent out of shape about tech stuff It's pretty funny.
It's all a matter of taste. Each and every one of you has a different opinion, and each of you thinks you're right. Just because you love the iPhone, doesn't mean someone else will. Or, just because you hate the iPhone doesn't give you the right to bash it unconditionally for it being spawned by the evil corporation Apple.
What I see as a flaw in a phone might not be what you think is a flaw, and same for anyone and any thing.
So, why the bickering?

[rwm72]

"From technological perspective, there are devices out there that might have higher specs than iPhone," she says. "But there's nothing on the market today that pulls everything together to give the superior user experience that you get with the iPhone."

This pretty much sums up why users chose iphone over any other so-called smartphone or mobile device.

It's a similar business case that Apple has applied for decades with their personal computers from Apple II through to Apple Mac. If you want to count features and measure specs, then, sure, there will always be something with higher this and more that... but if you want the superior "user" experience... then that is Apple's specialty, and always has been.

If you value a superior user experience over the most number of features or highest specs, then great. If not, fine, that is your choice.

But an iphone killer will not truly happen, because Apple is the only company that understands and delivers this kind of superior user experience. Palm has arguably come closest, but remember how many ex Apple engineers, designers and managers have ended up at Palm working on the Pre.

If you like the superior user experience of theiphone, you will not get something better elsewhere. If it's not important to you... then I'm sure you are already looking elsewhere.

[vineds]

Didn't you know that the iphone's internal components consist of recycle zombie parts? BBBBRRRAAAAIINNNSSS!!!!!

[remonl]

Just about the only thing I agree with in this article is the title, and even that with some reservation.
The mania of pronouncing one machine or another as a potential "iPhone killer" is completely nonsensical. Will another vendor come up with a great phone that becomes the "talk of the town" and becomes a top seller? Of course. Sooner or later that is going to happen, and I beg to differ with rwm72's evaluation of Apple as an invincible force. No company is invincible. For the moment the sun in shining on Apple, and well-deservedly so.
But just for a second, lets pretend that "iPhone killer" were a valid concept. So, lets see... the Pre, less than 30 days old, didn't sell 146,000 units in two days as Apple's 2-year old device did, so that means the Pre is a failure? That's like comparing a five year old with the world champion heavyweight. Would you conclude that no five-year-old will ever grow up to become the world heavyweight champion?
The iPhone IS a game changer. The smartphone market will never be the same. Old style phones such as the BlackBerry Bold will continue to sell for a while, but the writing is on the wall. The market is going to demand that new style of interaction with the phone that the iPhone pioneered.
It would be an understatement to say few other companies have a few billion dollars in cash and the marketing clout to match Apple today. So don't hold your breath if you are expecting the iPhone to disappear any time soon.
But beware of those who would tell you there are there are no "five year olds" who may grow up to become the new heavyweight champion. Palm is one of the few companies that has shown it understands the new world the iPhone has created, and I would say that they have taken what Apple started and taken it to a new level. But that's a subject for a different discussion.

[benfegore]

that is all very well and I understand your reasoning.

Just look at the Sony Walkman. I had about 10 of them, Sony was ruling the market and the products they brought out were fantastic (I had a Professional recording Walkman which was beautiful machine). Where is the Walkman brand now? Not in the race as far as audio players or phones are concerned.

However for the foreseeable future Apple will be hard to displace and the cries of 'iPhone Killer' at this stage of the game are embarrassing and ill founded, which is the original authors point. Forget about the iPhone Killer, pick your phone according to your needs but don't think that the iPhone is gonna be kicked off the top spot any time yet. The iPhone was laughed at when it first appeared in the phone market, the 'experts' and the fanbois of Palm, Nokia, WinMo were pointing at the lack of features they thought were all important but they are all eating humble pie now. To call the success of the iPhone just 'hype' is plain silly, the secret is that Apple did not just listen to focus groups or phone feature fanatics, they came out with a product they thought was going to enable all the things that you would like from a portable internet, music and phone device, and which makes those things easy and useful.

Of course if Apple get complacent there will eventually be an iPhone 'killer'... but so far we haven't seen anything yet.

Apple have laid the ground works for online media, hardware attachments, in-app payments, they have a devoted following of developers, they have the infrastructure to supply content, the infrastructure that links to other computers and the TV, they have a hardware product that maximises function and mobility, they have the ability to share in the design of the processors and batteries, they have a credible games platform and they can slowly work their way into the corporate sector.

That is why an iPhone Killer is not yet on the horizon, because the competition can only tick so many boxes, they either lack the infrastructure, or the graphic chips, or the form factor, or the ram or the storage, or they have no alternative to iTunes and the iPod features or they lack the business features or they lack the apps or they lack the speed, or they lack the credibility.

[iDiosPhone]

"In reality, the iPhone was merely the next logical step in Apple's quest to rule the world of wireless devices."
It's more apt to say that it was the next step in Apple's quest to rule the world of entertainment distribution. The iPhone is just the evolution of the iPod as a device, but it is wrong to only consider physical and functional design in analyzing its success. Some have said that there were better MP3 players than the iPod, yet none has had the traction to compete with it other than as a quirky alternative. As others have pointed out, the user experience, iTunes, specifically, has been key to the success of the device.
But even that acknowledgement falls short. What is critical is that Apple essentially sells integration, which many apparently value. This makes the purchase of their products, like Microsoft's, something of an investment proposition in the value of the entire ecosystem. iTunes DRM system was instrumental in creating loyalty and keeping competitors from stealing their customers by merely duplicating features. The next such salvo for Apple will be its proprietary dock connector. As soon as other manufacturers begin to sell devices that integrate with it, customers will invest greater sums in the ecosystem and few will be willing to turn to competitors who can only offer a niche alternative.

[rwm72]

I certainly don't think Apple is invincible. History has proven that is far from the case, and as you say, no company is invincible. It is just that at the moment, the sun is shining on Apple as you say, and people have recognised the value in Apple's controlled, albeit closed, ecosystem, because ultimately it gives the end user a superior experience. This is Apple's way of doing business and has been for many years. But the ipod and iphone, matched with itunes and the app store respectively, have given Apple a much higher public profile and overall consumer acceptance. A situation they haven't been in since the mid-eighties when their personal computers had a larger market share.

But just because consumers and end users recognise and value the Apple experience now does not mean they always will. Having a great product and a great user experience is still no guarantee of success. Apple itself has been in this position a number of times. Often, the marketing push of certain products completely overshadows, or misrepresents, the really important features and true value of a product to users. And of course, all marketers and sales people will try to find an angle that "proves" their product is best.

It was not so long ago, everyone was obesessed with Ghz speeds with processors, and megapixels for digital cameras. Rather than considering the overall user experience marketers had people obsessing over tech specs and a race to eek out that bit more than your competitor became paramount. Convincing people you needed a 10megapixel camera, when really a 5 Mp would be more than enough. No mention of lens quality or relevant specs. Or convincing consumers you need 3Ghz when the users real requirements were prbably only 2Ghz, etc. While this is still the focus of many companies, Apple has continued with it's own business model, which the sun is currently shining on, and many companies are trying to emulate... but how many really understand it, and how many are doing it as a marketing push.

No doubt, sometime in the next few years, marketers will shift the focus once again to counting features, and comparing tech specs. I guess that's the cycle of things. Meanwhile Apple will continue to offer the best user experience possible, while being laughed at by many for having inferior specs. But as long as the end user sees the value in the "superior experience" they provide, the sun will continue to shine on Apple and those who adopt a similar philosophy... until of course the marketers convince them otherwise.

[zelrik]

The iphone is not the best product out there by far. It's a toy compared to the HTC Hero for instance. The iphone is still selling well because of hype only. When you go to a store and the only phone that is on demo is the iphone, you ask yourself if it's fair competition. But that will change, the android-based phones seem to have a decent market penetration and those offerings will outnumber the iphone because of the variety of hardware supported.

[remonl]

Oh, please. A commentator expresses his or her opinion, but the market decides which product is the "best." And you can't sell millions of anything just on hype. Finally, what are you suggesting? That Apple stores sell HTC Heros? In this internet age, not selling your product side by side with your competitor's in the hope that consumers will buy yours even though it compares unfavorably with your competition's simply won't work.