Khuram

Why the iPhone should’ve sucked but doesn’t

Quick Note: While i do make a valiant attempt in this post to argue the case for what I think makes the iPhone the leading Smartphone in the market, this is not a technical discussion and is an extenuation of my last post regarding Value Propositions.

If you’re into business or marketing, then stick around, its a great discussion.

My last post explaining the importance of the Value Proposition received a small amount of minor criticism. Some readers suggested that most people who choose to go into business, inherently understand the importance of the value proposition, and therefore my post was simply stating the obvious.

I think the criticism was fair and perfectly valid, but i wanted to get back to basics, and sometimes doing this helps provide a fresh perspective, especially when you begin to ask yourself why you are doing what you do, in the first place. More importantly, however, i wrote the post in order to assert, based on my own personal observations, that, many companies, (not just start-ups) do not focus enough on refining their value proposition.

I would even go as far as saying that refining the value proposition is the predominant factor in determining whether your offering is the leader in the market, or in the middle of the pack. I know there are a fair few ‘out of the box’ thinkers out there, that share a similar view.

So i wanted to fortify my claims with a practical and universal example, and what could be better than the infamous iPhone.

The iPhone has been home to endless debates in social circles, is a frequent visitor on both Digg and the trending topics in Twitter.

Before i begin however, let me first state that:

I am not an Apple Fanboy, i have never owned a Mac, and only discovered Steve Jobs when researching the genius behind Pixar’s Toy Story.

The Lesser Beast

A couple of weeks ago, there was a debate between my two good Twitter friends Andrew Betson and Evert Bopp regarding the iPhone.

Evert’s main argument (against iPhone) was that the iPhone is no more functionally capable than many of the Smartphone’s that have come before it. He even went to the length of proving his point with the video below of his iPaq now over 10 years years old that was, for the most part, functionally just as capable at time of its release, as the iPhone is now.

While this may be a bit of a caricature example, Evert does in fact raise some profound truths.

On paper, both technically and in terms of feature set, the iPhone has nothing to offer that really sets it apart from the competition. And while i didn’t join the debate, except, for the occasional but customary ribbing, it occurred to me, that even i had to admit to myself that i didn’t know why i was such an ardent fan of the iPhone.

So I’ve had a good think, and here is what i came up with:-

My Pain

Now, remember, the Customer’s pain is a problem, need or desire that the intended audience experiences.

Need:

“I need a phone for both personal and professional use. That, at the bare minimum, can make/receive phone calls, send/receive text messages and can store contact information.”

It goes without saying that both the iPhone and every other Smartphone on the market can do this.

Desire:

“It would be nice to be able to watch the occasional video on my Smartphone, Google something quickly, and listen to music/audio while on the go”

All Smartphones even prior to the iPhone were already doing this long before its entry, and a great job at it too. The HTC based Smartphones were able to display video at a better quality than the iPhone, and had some interesting features where browsing the web and listening to music was concerned. Apple was the first maker of Smartphones however, that really made it fun to surf the web on your mobile device, for simple reasons i’ve outlined further on in this post.

Apple do their homework

I think the other Smartphone manufacturers did a good job, in addressing their customers needs and desires, but fell short when it came to looking at the problems and desires at a more granular level. I think Apple spent a generous amount of time and effort in understanding their customers pain.

As a member of their target audience, here is how i can relate personally.

Desire:

“I desire to look cool in-front of my friends.”

The iPhone sported a shiny look and came with an inherent wow factor. This was the first Smartphone device that you could actually flash in front of your friends for its aesthetic looks. This may be a trivial point to some, but Apple clearly understood that this desire existed and addressed it.

I’ll be honest, i only bought the iPhone myself, so that i could “flash” it at my cousin’s wedding where i would be meeting old friends and extended family after a long time. I had no intention of keeping it longer than 3 months.

But where, Apple is concerned, this is just the beginning. I feel the iPhone was the first Smartphone that really addressed my specific pains which is why i decided to keep it longer, and haven’t looked back since. Apple addressed my pain by addressing the following problems

Problem One:

I have an ego

My friends who had seen me prior to my iPhone purchase, saw me with a HTC based Smartphone, and always remarked how it “looked like a brick” or a “TV Remote”. This was a problem.

The iPhone is no minute device, but nor is it mock-worthy.

Problem Two:

I am lazy

Try going to the shopping mall, and while holding a basket full of shopping, try getting out your Windows CE based Smartphone, with stylus included, and try looking up the remainder of the items on your shopping list. Its no convenient feat. Not to mention the number of clicks you have to endure to get to your actual shopping list.

“Where computing is concerned, clicks and gestures are like money ; No one wants to spend them unnecessarily”

-– Khuram Malik

Enter the iPhone which can give you one-thumb operation with utmost ease.

Your Smartphone device is probably one device you are going to interact with (if you’re anything like me) over 50 times a day.
If you can save even one click and one gesture for every interaction, that’s over 50 clicks saved every single day.

This is a bargain, and as far as i am concerned, great value.

Problem Three:

I am still lazy

Getting a new phone can be very exciting and we often want to learn all we can about it, but there comes a time when you just don’t want to be labouring time inside the manual understanding how every minutiae of the device works. This was a major problem with my Nokia E71. Every time, i wanted to use a new application, or exact my device to do something new, i had to get out the manual or surf the web to see how it had to be done. And bear in mind, i have a technical background, so that’s really saying something about the lack of intuitive operation.

The iPhone was the first phone, where i spent very little time inside the manual. Many disagree when i say that i found it to be intuitive and rather self explanatory, and better yet, all the applications from the App Store use similar interface templates and gestures, so the learning curve for each new application is absolutely minimal.

A great time and effort saver, and therefore, great value once again.

This is also the point at which i had to agree with Andrew (on the left. Read bottom up)

Sure the Nokia’s and the Blackberry’s came with Internet Access long before the iPhone did, but as Andrew asserts wisely, Apple was the first maker that really convinced us to start using the internet while on the go, with smart interface additions that made it easy and convenient, addressing our pains of being lazy

Problem Four:

I’m REALLY lazy

Installing new Apps on my previous Smartphones was a problem. I had to first locate the application on the web, download to my PC, connect the mobile device to my machine and then run through the install on my PC.

This was an extremely laborious process. This was a huge amount of effort to install just the one App that i didn’t necessarily plan to use after the first few days.

The iPhone introduced probably the most seamless App installation process I’ve ever seen, which meant even with my laziness, i was happy to try App installs even if i didn’t intend to use the application after a few days. It was far more convenient for me to spend £1 to try an App i may never use again on the iPhone, than to waste 1 or 2 hours on a free App on any of my previous Smartphones.

Time is the real premium here, not money. (Unless you start going into much more expensive application pricing territory). And best of all, i never had to go anywhere near my PC and this could be done while i was getting bored waiting for my next client in their reception area. Plenty of value here.

Problem Five:

I’m impatient

Nokia were the first to introduce predictive text messaging, but despite this technical innovation, i had no greater inclination to will myself into using it. I wanted to be able to send text messages, but texting in the traditional way was too frustrating and time consuming. See earlier problem of: “I’m lazy”.

Other Smartphones had debuted with a hardware keyboard, but this made the device bulky. See earlier problem of: “I have an ego”.

The iPhone introduced a ‘soft’ keyboard. I have to admit, this wasn’t easy to use in the beginning, but remarkably i found it easier to learn how to use it and got accustomed to it in just a few weeks than i had done in the last several years with predictive text.

I now send more text messages than ever before. Nokia introduced text messaging from the PC using their Nokia suite, but this wasn’t as convenient as being able to text from the phone itself for obvious reasons.

Iphone oozes value

Overall, despite its high price, the iPhone has oozed massive amounts of real value for me, and for many others.

Lets not forget there were many limitations, in the beginning. Not being able to “copy and paste”, for example, which made it the butt of many jokes, but when one really considers the value they are getting, it was easy to see why so many loyal fans were happy to put up with that particular annoyance, in order to benefit elsewhere.

The iPhone came top in the JD Power Survey, and is also the most used non-SLR based camera on Flickr.

I know, other makers now sport similar features and mimic the user interface design, but remember, Apple did it first.

Furthermore, Apple’s hard work has paid off elsewhere too. They now have my trust, because i know they do their homework. Something the other makers did not try hard to attain. This gives Apple a major advantage, because now i consider their other devices. If they are working so hard to address my pain with a Smartphone, then surely they are doing this with other products.

Personally, i believe that if you can gain the trust of your audience, then that has far more value for both you and your customer over any short term benefits.

The Buzz

Now i know many will say, that considering Apple’s value proposition cannot be the sole determining factor in the iPhone’s success. I don’t doubt that for a second, and, yes i would agree that Apple is pretty good at creating a ‘buzz’, and I’m sure other factors need to be taken into consideration too. What i am saying, however, is that it is the predominant factor in it’s success.

Consider the ‘Buzz’ generating example of the Samsung Omnia 900 (below)

Samsung definitely played smart and understood that the best place to appeal to their audience, was YouTube. This was some very clever piece of viral marketing and an amazing promotional launch.

But then consider, that my father bought this phone off the back of this excitement, kept the phone for about 2 weeks, couldn’t figure out how to use it (for very similar problem reasons as myself) and gave it up.

He’s now buying an iPhone incidentally.

Buzz generation is great for creating an awareness, and Samsung definitely raised the bar here, but without a well refined Value Proposition, your offering doesn’t stand the test of time.

iPhone image courtesy of Kaneda99

With thanks to my two good Twitter friends Andrew Betson and Evert Bopp for their consent in using their material.