It’s been a little over two years since I bought my HTC Herald (P4350). At that time, February 2008, Belgium was buzzing with anticipation for the iPhone 3G, which was destined to release somewhere in the summer. The first generation iPhone had not been sold in the Benelux countries, so a lot of people were yearning to finally get their hands on one of Apple’s flagship products.
Downside of a Hype
Newspapers, magazines and pretty much all media contributed to the buzz with reports, prospects and articles on the device. At one point, polls indicated that “75% of all high school students wanted and planned on buying an iPhone”. And among all that turmoil, there I was, half a year away from the planned iPhone 3G release, contemplating which Smartphone to buy.
Now, this won’t come as a surprise to most people, but a decent part of consumers value originality. Take clothes, for instance. On the one hand, you have people who hate the idea of sitting in college next to someone who happens to be wearing the exact same thing. On the other hand, fashion falls subject to fads and trends which very often have everyone chasing in the same direction. Different people have different tastes and opinions; while some may find social confirmation through wearing something which frequently appears in their peer group, others hate this idea and revolt through being totally different.
This being said, I personally hated the idea of owning the same phone as 75% of high school students. I was 21 at the time (hardly what you would call a full-born adult), but the idea of bumping into groups of pimply teenagers, all sporting the same mobile device as me quite honestly drove me away from the product. After all, there had to be sóme device out there which was equally good (or even better) than the iPhone, but would score points in originality. A few years before, I had already bought a Creative Zen Vision:M, which (through some typical prosumer research) turned out to have better specs than the more expensive Ipod from the same category. So it was a win-win situation: more for your money’s worth, ánd an original product.
With all those ideas in mind, I began the hunt for my Smartphone and quickly bumped into HTC, an (at that moment) relatively unknown brand in Belgium (this was before Mark Cavendish sprinted all competition away in the Tour de France, while making a call on his imaginary HTC). The P4350 seemed like a reasonable choice at the time, so I ordered it. A few days later, I was the proud (or smug) owner of a brand new Smartphone, months ahead of all the sheep who were waiting for their iPhones. Needless to say, I felt pretty good about myself.
Half a year later: people start buying iPhones. My brother. Some of my friends. I get my hands on one, and sure: they look pretty sleek, but I knew that in advance. They have some cool features. But hey, they also lack in customizability. At least I have an operating system (Windows Mobile 6) which kinda lets me do what I want to. So in the end, adding the points for originality, I was still quite pleased with the choice I made.
Now, this won’t come as a surprise to most people, but a decent part of consumers value originality. Take clothes, for instance. On the one hand, you have people who hate the idea of sitting in college next to someone who happens to be wearing the exact same thing. On the other hand, fashion falls subject to fads and trends which very often have everyone chasing in the same direction. Different people have different tastes and opinions; while some may find social confirmation through wearing something which frequently appears in their peer group, others hate this idea and revolt through being totally different.
This being said, I personally hated the idea of owning the same phone as 75% of high school students. I was 21 at the time (hardly what you would call a full-born adult), but the idea of bumping into groups of pimply teenagers, all sporting the same mobile device as me quite honestly drove me away from the product. After all, there had to be sóme device out there which was equally good (or even better) than the iPhone, but would score points in originality. A few years before, I had already bought a Creative Zen Vision:M, which (through some typical prosumer research) turned out to have better specs than the more expensive Ipod from the same category. So it was a win-win situation: more for your money’s worth, ánd an original product.
With all those ideas in mind, I began the hunt for my Smartphone and quickly bumped into HTC, an (at that moment) relatively unknown brand in Belgium (this was before Mark Cavendish sprinted all competition away in the Tour de France, while making a call on his imaginary HTC). The P4350 seemed like a reasonable choice at the time, so I ordered it. A few days later, I was the proud (or smug) owner of a brand new Smartphone, months ahead of all the sheep who were waiting for their iPhones. Needless to say, I felt pretty good about myself.
Half a year later: people start buying iPhones. My brother. Some of my friends. I get my hands on one, and sure: they look pretty sleek, but I knew that in advance. They have some cool features. But hey, they also lack in customizability. At least I have an operating system (Windows Mobile 6) which kinda lets me do what I want to. So in the end, adding the points for originality, I was still quite pleased with the choice I made.
The benefits
However, the future would prove me wrong, because mobile devices turned out to be a very special category of consumer goods; even within the branch of electronics. Try to think of a product which is capable to adapt after you purchased it. When you find yourself in a shop trying on a shirt you like, you know exactly what this shirt is going to look like throughout the period of intended use (that is of course, if you don’t mess up your laundry). When you’re buying a car, you differentiate between brands, ultimately going for style, prestige, performance or whatever you deem most important. But once you buy the car, it is not going to change drastically (unless you’re some sort of tuning fanatic, but then it doesn’t really matter which car you buy as almost all cars are capable of being adjusted). You can see where I’m going here. The normal trend was to compare products at their initial stage, presuming they would remain in this stage until replaced by their follow-up product. When I made this comparison between Apple’s iPhone and HTC Smartphones, the pendulum swung in favour of HTC, scoring points for originality.
But then the iPhone Apps started popping up, and this is were crowdsourcing comes into the story. The hype had created a gigantic user base, which in turn opened up a pool of creative people who were granted the possibility to generate their own content, which could then be uploaded to their phones to enhance their mobile experience. This was not only the case with individuals. Companies and businesses acknowledged the hype and success, and naturally wanted to jump the bandwagon. They started developing their own applications featuring their brands, their company names, their products. If you were a Marketing Director wanting to reach 75% of pimply teenagers in Belgium at that time, you knew what to do.
Each time my brother dropped by the house, he showed off a couple of new apps which, admittedly, looked really good. Games, utilities, lifestyle apps…you name it, and someone had developed it. For the iPhone. And there I was, HTC Herald in the pocket, forming part of a much smaller user base which apparently didn’t feel like creating anything; let alone absolutely no interest from companies and businesses, which isn’t even that hard to understand. Slowly, for the first time in my life, the actual benefits of owning a product which is owned by everybody else starting seeping through.
But then the iPhone Apps started popping up, and this is were crowdsourcing comes into the story. The hype had created a gigantic user base, which in turn opened up a pool of creative people who were granted the possibility to generate their own content, which could then be uploaded to their phones to enhance their mobile experience. This was not only the case with individuals. Companies and businesses acknowledged the hype and success, and naturally wanted to jump the bandwagon. They started developing their own applications featuring their brands, their company names, their products. If you were a Marketing Director wanting to reach 75% of pimply teenagers in Belgium at that time, you knew what to do.
Each time my brother dropped by the house, he showed off a couple of new apps which, admittedly, looked really good. Games, utilities, lifestyle apps…you name it, and someone had developed it. For the iPhone. And there I was, HTC Herald in the pocket, forming part of a much smaller user base which apparently didn’t feel like creating anything; let alone absolutely no interest from companies and businesses, which isn’t even that hard to understand. Slowly, for the first time in my life, the actual benefits of owning a product which is owned by everybody else starting seeping through.
Time to change ideas
Now, we’re more than two years later. Apple has released a new model, the iPhone 3GS, and their AppStore has grown to more than 185,000 third-party applications officially available, with over 4 billion total downloads. HTC discontinued support for my HTC Herald, so although Windows Mobile updated their operating system from 6.0 to 6.5, I couldn’t benefit from this without going through ingenious processes like “flashing” my phone, risking to “brick” it. Obviously, they are trying to push customers with older phones (nowadays, 2 years is probably considered ancient) into buying newer models.
In the meanwhile, the Android operating system was developed by Android Inc., later purchased by Google. New HTC models use this operating system, trying to close the gap with Apple’s iPhone. Similarly, the Android Market has over 40,000 applications available for download, but these are still often popular iPhone Apps (such as Shazam or Weatherbug) which are being converted to Android. The real seeds of innovation still mainly lay with people and businesses creating third party content for Apple’s product. Plus, the market share has been divided, companies have decided on which device to focus in order to reach the most potential customers, so to be honest I do not see Android and HTC (or any other brand for that matter) fully closing the gap anytime soon.
In the meanwhile, the Android operating system was developed by Android Inc., later purchased by Google. New HTC models use this operating system, trying to close the gap with Apple’s iPhone. Similarly, the Android Market has over 40,000 applications available for download, but these are still often popular iPhone Apps (such as Shazam or Weatherbug) which are being converted to Android. The real seeds of innovation still mainly lay with people and businesses creating third party content for Apple’s product. Plus, the market share has been divided, companies have decided on which device to focus in order to reach the most potential customers, so to be honest I do not see Android and HTC (or any other brand for that matter) fully closing the gap anytime soon.
Development trumps delivery
So what’s my conclusion? For the first time, my desire to have an original product backfired because of the concept of crowdsourcing, user generated content and third parties trying to get a piece of the pie. What Apple states on their website, “Your iPhone gets better with every app”, is truly the case.
The market of mobile devices has entered a world where not only the initial product you deliver makes the difference (as is the case with almost all other consumer goods), but the support and development after acquiring the device continues to create the edge which makes your brand superior. Apple was probably the first company to fully comprehend this, and in my opinion they gained a lead which will be very hard for competitors to close in the near future.
The market of mobile devices has entered a world where not only the initial product you deliver makes the difference (as is the case with almost all other consumer goods), but the support and development after acquiring the device continues to create the edge which makes your brand superior. Apple was probably the first company to fully comprehend this, and in my opinion they gained a lead which will be very hard for competitors to close in the near future.
