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Friday, August 21, 2009

Enthusiasm is my enemy!

Mark Bridge writes:

Enthusiasm is one of the great intangible powers of the world. It’s attractive, it’s compelling and sometimes it’s dangerous. And – yes, I’m going to try to keep this relevant – it sells mobile phones.

I was reminded of this the other day when I read a Sunday Times piece about Apple’s Steve Jobs. It wasn’t particularly sympathetic to Mr Jobs but it made mention of the “reality distortion field” that people often describe as surrounding him. That’s his enthusiasm – and it’s the enthusiasm that’s transformed Apple from a mere computer manufacturer into the company it is today. The Apple iPhone arrived in 2007, enthusing the so-called fanboy while also enticing millions of others to ditch their smartphones for the new Apple device.

It’s enthusiasm that's made the Apple iPhone – later the iPhone 3G and now the 3GS – a device that’s changing the way the mobile industry works. We may not like this… but we may not have much choice.

Despite the iPhone's popularity, the reasons not to like it are manifold. For example, many of the technical specifications aren’t as high as other current smartphones. Some of the iPhone’s features have lagged years behind other devices.

That’s one of the reasons I’ve not bought one myself. I had a Nokia 2110 back in 1995. I had a Nokia 7650 in 2002. I like cutting-edge – when it’s relevant to me – and I won’t upgrade just for the sake of changing my phone. (I’ve got a HTC TyTN II at the moment, since you ask). And yet I’m thinking about getting an iPhone.

Why?  It’s that darned enthusiasm. It’s not affected me directly – but it’s affected other people. Developing software for different operating systems is expensive, as MoBank’s Steve Townend said in this week’s edition of The Fonecast. That’s why MoBank started with a single OS. If I want to use MoBank at the moment, I need an iPhone.

Now ipadio, which works with pretty much any mobile phone in the world, has created an iPhone application. I can still use ipadio from my current mobile… but if I want the extra features, I need an iPhone. Ocado. Google Earth. Amazon Kindle. All iPhone lovers. Of course, support for other operating systems may well follow, but who wants to wait?

So what’s going to save me from ending up with a mobile device I don’t really want?  What's going to save me from needing a not-really-cutting-edge device to run the latest software?  (Now THAT'S ironic, Morissette).

Perhaps technology development. Maybe the next iPhone (or the Apple Tablet) will have a higher spec and a better keyboard experience, both of which are important to me. Perhaps we’ll start seeing more apps for Android. Or perhaps commercial reality will come to my rescue.

Strand Consulting has recently published a report that describes the iPhone as a mobile operator's worst friend. It points to Apple’s small market share and the high data usage it encourages on flat-rate tariffs. In fact, it reckons that no mobile operator in the world has increased its overall turnover, profit and market share due to selling the iPhone.

Enthusiasm’s difficult to beat. I’m a big fan – but not when it overwhelms reality. Perhaps it’s the accountants with their Symbian smartphones and their BlackBerry devices that’ll have the last word on the iPhone. Meanwhile, I’ll hang on to my HTC for a little longer… and maybe I’ll take a look at second-hand iPhones on eBay when I have a moment.

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1 comments on article "Enthusiasm is my enemy!"

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Mark

10/21/2009 6:52 AM

Ewan MacLeod is unhappy with Apple's competitiors: ping.fm/9m2yM

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Opinion Articles

Everything Everywhere, Orange and T-Mobile: how much longer for three brands?

Mark Bridge writes:

This story starts with Mercury One2One and Orange. They were acquired by Deutsche Telekom (which changed One2One’s name to T-Mobile) and France Telecom. Next, Everything Everywhere was created to run the T-Mobile and Orange brands in the UK.

Author: The Fonecast
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Multiplayer Computer Games are Big Business for Small Devices

Greg Flakus of voanews.com writes:

Millions of people are addicted to playing games on mobile devices, with rivals and teammates spread around the world. A company in Austin, Texas has developed such a game, known as a mobile multiplayer online game, for the Apple iPhone and iPad, basing it on a pen-and-paper game that was popular in the 1970s called Traveller.

Author: The Fonecast
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Last week at The Fonecast: 30th April 2012

Mark Bridge writes:

Last week mobile phones and health were back in the headlines together, rather like love & marriage or salt and vinegar. The news is pretty much as we’ve heard before; this time it’s the UK Health Protection Agency’s independent Advisory Group on Non-Ionising Radiation telling us there’s no convincing evidence that mobile phone technologies cause adverse effects on human health – but longer-term research is still needed.

Author: The Fonecast
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Big headlines for Three UK... but no big changes

Mark Bridge writes:

The headlines sound pretty dramatic. “Three exits business market”. “Three parts company with Phones 4u”. It sounds like the 3G network operator is cutting back and reorganising. But let's look a little closer.

Author: The Fonecast
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Last week at The Fonecast: 23rd April 2012

Mark Bridge writes:

We’ve had a few sets of quarterly results in the past week. Let me summarise as best I can.

Qualcomm: doing very well, thank you.
Microsoft: pretty decent, although no-one’s talking much about phones.
Intel: not as good as before, although better than expected.
Nokia: sorry, we’ve lost a billion Euro. Well, we did warn you...

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A month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

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