Over the last few weeks I have noticed a number of blogs like this one where the author tells us how he has dumped his iPhone and moved to something else. Indeed the number of high profile blogging gadget freaks out there who are either dumping their iPhones or thinking about it is becoming hard to ignore
Indeed in the US, in the last quarter, the best selling smart phone was the Blackberry Curve
So what’s going on?
Well the new iPhones keep getting better and sure the number of applications is huge but maybe the iPhone is a one trick pony.
After all, the phone functionality of the iPhone is actually not very good (a problem that Blackberry have as well). There is also the hard to ignore attitude that Apple takes towards it’s users (look at how they have managed production problems in the past) and the competition. If Microsoft tried on half the stuff Apple have tried in the last couple of years, the regulators would be up in arms although at least the FTC are starting to take an interest.
But more importantly the competition are catching up.
The iPhone certainly introduced a lot of people to the concept of a smart phone at the same time that Facebook, Twitter etc were really going main stream. Indeed you could argue that the iPhone helped drive the uptake of the new social medial sites which really become useful when you take them mobile. Not only did you have a smart phone but you had application and networks to support it. There was a real reason to buy one.
But now all these owners have seen Apple introduce 2 new versions and each time, the improvements are minimal.
At the same time however the competition has been getting stronger. Blackberry (who were always business focused) have realised that even business users want Web 2.0 applications, Google have come along with Android (a smartphone OS designed for Web 2.0), Palm have launched the Pre which by all accounts is a true iPhone beater and Microsoft have been spending vast amounts of cash trying to make the Windows Mobile platform as good as the rest of them.
So now those iPhone carrying users have a choice and are realising that whilst the iPhone is good, it comes with a lot of strings attached (some of which make a lot of money for the carriers) and discovering (over the web ironically) that they have choices.
So is this the end for the iPhone? Probably not just yet. It’s still a great device that leapfrogged the competition by a huge margin when it was launched but that competition is catching up fast and a lot of that competition has deep pockets.
But importantly (just like I suspect we are going to see on the desktop), the device is becoming less important. Right now I can access Facebook on any device with an internet connection be it a Linux desktop or an Apple iPhone. With my data AND my applications in the cloud, as long as the device gives me a decent browser I don’t care much for the device itself. Yes you can argue that right now a lot of the applications for the likes of Facebook etc are not browser based but this is only to compensate for the inadequate mobile data networks. Sort them out and we will be due another step change.
The only question is:
Who from?
