The iPhone Debate Gets Even Hotter!
Posted by Rich Holdsworth on July 30, 2009 at 4:58 pmFiled under: Mobile Internet, Mobile Web Development, Mobile Websites
Konny Zsigo of the MDA recently posted an insightful article into the ‘to iPhone or not to iPhone debate.
It seems to have attracted a lot of flames. Blimey! Time for Mobile Web Junkie to dive in…
Read the article. It’s great.
If you’re trying to make money, dump your iPhone strategy
Then the comments but in case you feel too much pain before you get as far as my comment, here it is, just for you:
Wow, what a lot of hate in the comments. I really think that a lot of you need to read back what you’ve written and see if it’s truly in the spirit of constructive debate.
I would suggest that every single flame has been posted by iPhone owners. A trait I’ve noticed is that as soon as someone jumps onto the Apple train they feel they have a fight on their hands. I guess it’s a complex caused by Microsoft constantly trumping Apple in the OS battle.
Let’s all calm down a little. There really is no need for all this flaming.
I don’t like the iPhone but I do recognise that it has done wonders for educating the public that there’s more to mobiles than just voice and text. Finally we have a platform that can do so much more, but importantly it makes extra applications accessible and consumable.
My problem is that the worldwide market share that Apple has is actually a lot smaller than iPhone fans would have you believe. Given the amount of absolute trash that is available on the App Store I find it difficult to believe that enough people make money out of selling apps to maintain a sustainable environment.
This problem is not just Apple’s. I recently switched from Nokia to Android and I am inundated with rubbish and duplicate applications in the Marketplace and I am overwhelmed to the point that I cannot discern good from bad. It has become painful to find applications because of the distinct lack of editorial to filter the stuff that matters from that which doesn’t.
I am a mobile web expert – developing and delivering services for mobile web for the last 7 years at Wapple. I believe in the broadest possible publishing models and I believe in open markets not manufacturer-owned distribution channels.
The mobile web unifies all operating systems. Mobile web is the platform that we should all be publishing for as it is unrestricted and platform independent (provided you use the correct tools to overcome device variations).
A colleague of mine was a complete Apple head. He spent a lot of money on the App Store – then he had his phone stolen during a night out. Disgusted with O2’s refusal to honour the insurance policy he had paid for he bought himself a new Nokia, swearing never to return to iPhone again.
He lost all his apps. Those that he had paid for.
More worryingly for everyone in this forum, he was lost as a customer to those businesses relying on his ongoing custom through the App Store.
Though all the services that he engaged with through his mobile web browser were maintained as he moved to a new operating system.
Now the theft of a phone is an extreme example, although we can all relate I’m sure. But let’s look at our own histories. I am a Windows PC user and have been for 16 years. Sure I’ve used other operating systems fleetingly but I have worked with the same software and service vendors for years.
But when it comes to phones, I have used many different models from different manufacturers. Every 18 months for the last 10 years I have changed models and manufacturers.
I find it hard to believe that anyone will be an iPhone user for life. Right now iPhone is the ‘big thing’. All the decision makers have them (what about all the customers, though?). But it will not be the big thing forever.
Users will migrate. You will migrate. Then all the development and marketing you have put into attracting a small slice of the entire mobile audience will be for nothing.
Personally, I’ll keep developing for mobile web. It’s not a direct competitor to mobile apps anyway, but I do know that what I make will move with me, my customers and the market through all its twists, turns and trends.
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