Wow...I don't know what prompted this, Carl, but I don't disagree with you.
It's a myth propagated by fanboy sites and tech blogs that the major smartphone brands are out gunning for each others' customers. In reality, as you've said, they're only really competing for _new_ customers, those who are thinking of evolving from feature phones to smart(er)phones. That market is enormous compared to the current smartphone user base AND they're less loyal to an existing solution. I do think apps are important, if only for buzz. Have you seen Apple's current marketing campaign -- "There's an app for that"? To me, that speaks volumes about the importance they put on their app catalog. I wrote a bit about that in a recent article discussing Apple & Palm's intertwined history: http://www.gearbits.com/archives/2009/05/the_evolving_re.html Anyway, I'm just happy to see a wide variety of robust offerings. We now have 6 major smartphone platforms competing in North America: Palm/webOS, Apple/iPhone, RIM/Blackberry, MSFT/WinPhone, Nokia/Symbian, and Google/Android. Unless we lose a couple of those, consumers should be treated to unprecedented innovation in the space. - Craig On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 8:28 AM, Carl W. Brooks <[email protected]> wrote: > People are so blind. Most people could care less about application. There is > a growing number of user that would add additional apps but most don't really > care. Remember when people stood in line with cash in fists ( I was there in > line, but just to check it out) to pay $500 for the iPhone, how many apps > could they add? Zero! > > We had to jailbreak it later to add apps (I had the iPod Touch by then). > > The truth is most people just want a cool phone that works. Most people just > graduated to a camera phone. Most people have just graduated to having email > on their phone, i.e. Treo, Centro and Blackberry popularity among the > prosumers. > > Many people have paid way more than $299 for a phone that could do way less. > People have paid way more than $100 a month on a cell phone bill to just > talk. Remember how much money people spent on the Motorola Razor? And it > couldn't do anything fancy. Technology changes so fast that people forget > this quick. MetroPCS has changed peoples thinking on what they should pay > each month for a phone bill; prior to their $50 unlimited plan people paid an > average of $100 a month for just voice (including any over limit charges) > > My point? The Palm Pre provides the average phone user a lot of functionity > for the dollar. Much more than they have had before. The number of candy bar > and flip phone users is way more than the smartphone users that own Apple, > Palm or RIM phones. > > All three of these makers are targeting THAT group of people, not the current > users of Apple, Palm or RIM phones. If some of these folk buy; then great, > but they want the mass of new smartphone users. > > Look around you right now. Go ahead look around. How many people are holding > a non-Smartphone and busy at it? Texting, playing whacky games that we used > to play on Atari, taking photos of themselves, etc. These are the people they > want. > > Having said that, the apps will matter in the long run. Palm's app store must > be done right. There I no doubt that people will develop for it if the masses > buy the phone. If both of these happen, then the app store must make > purchasing these apps a breeze. > > Remember when everyone was screaming that Palmgear.com was robbing developers > because they took a cut? Obviously Apple agreed with Palmgear. The problem > with the online method was many people didn't know where, what and how it all > worked. Some provided PRC files, others zip files. It was a mess. Users had > to reply on fan sites to explain what, where and how. > > I am looking forward to the Palm Pre. Yes, I would love to have had the SDK > out before launch so apps could be developed and available day one. Yes, I > would like to have video recording day one. BUT I am delighted to have Palm > back in the game. > > I am happy to see Palm finally providing the things we have asked for like a > real MP3 player, Video or movie play back, multitasking, a fantastic web > browsing experience, a large beautiful color screen, mass media storage, GPS, > WIFI and a decent camera. It is almost like Sony is back in the game again > LOL. > > I am excited for what the mobile experience can grow to with the re-emerging > of Palm into the Smartphone arena. Let's just hope they don't lose their mind > again. > > Palm has an army of loyal followers who are ready to move these and future > devices to the masses. Here's to them staying on top and using us to their > advantage and not just taking us for granted. > ----------------------- > Sent from my Treo(r) smartphone > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > -- CRA1G on Twitter
