Lack of Competition
Despite being on the market for nearly 16 months the iPhone 4 has yet to face any competition. It’s shocking another company hasn’t figured it out yet. Name one phone that looks as good as the iPhone 4. Name one phone that performs as well as the iPhone 4. You can’t. The Droid Bionic? The Galaxy S II? Please. Neither of those phones is designed as well as the iPhone 4, nor do they perform as well as an iPhone 4, or have an ecosystem as meticulously built as Apple’s.
If you think Apple is going to be left in the dust by these other companies you don’t have a pulse on technology today. When Apple released the original iPhone, Steve Jobs claimed that it was five years ahead of its time. Almost five years have passed since the iPhone was unveiled in January of 2007 and not a single company has combined the right pieces to compete with Apple’s revolutionary device.
Detractors would have people believe that Apple fans are oblivious to the true state of affairs. Honestly, most of us hope that a worthy adversary will finally step up to the plate. Dominating a bunch of second-rate challengers gets boring without some true competition – just ask Manny Pacquiao.
Blackberry tried their best to take on Apple but their products are out of touch with what consumers need today. Samsung has tried to copy Apple unsuccessfully. Palm made a valiant stand but died a slow and painful death. Google can’t seem to defragment their ecosystem and make great hardware. Last time I checked, Nokia’s partnership with Microsoft has yet to yield significant results.
Emerging from the dust of these would-be competitors, Amazon has some scary weapons that look worthy of competing against the fruit company, but they don’t have a phone, yet. The iPhone 4 sits on a perch alone. Yet Apple is going to make it even better, and people are complaining because they wish it had more “newness” to it.
Why is a New Form Factor Important?
After everything we’ve considered, we still don’t have an answer as to why everyone cares so much about a new iPhone form factor if it doesn’t change how great the iPhone performs. If it’s not about internal hardware, and it’s not about software, what reason do we have to be disappointed in a phone that has a superior design, superior software, and superior hardware to that of any phone available? Have we been exposed to planned obsolescence so much that any product deviating from that path is met with pitchforks and torches?
The only answer I can find to this question, is that if you’re upset the design of the iPhone hasn’t changed within 16 months, then you’re more concerned about what your phone says about you, rather than what it can do for you.
Like cars, clothes, and watches, cellphones have now become a status symbol. Technology is now a means by which our society gauges each other’s inherent worth and intelligence. It’s not completely your fault for succumbing to this view. In fact, Apple has led the marketing charge, convincing us we are more desirable and cool if we have the newest iPhone or iPad. We’ve all bought into their system that forces us to wait in line on launch day so we can be the first of our friends to buy the new device. A new form factor makes it easier for us to distinguish who has the latest and greatest iDevice. Parading through our social circles, we use our new iPhones’ form factor as a designator to show how hip and up to date we are. We want Apple to come out with a redesigned iPhone 5, not because we care so much about the improved processors, memory, and camera, but because we will feel better about ourselves for having the newest gadget on the market while other people are still playing Angry Birds on their “boring,” “old” iPhone 4.
Tomorrow Apple will unveil the iPhone 4S with beefed specs wrapped in the same old iPhone 4 body. People will take the internet and deride Apple for the move. Some will even threaten to switch to Android, but in then end, we’ll all be waiting infront of the Apple Store on Launch Day hoping we will be one of the blessed ones to get a new device. I’ll probably be there with. And just like everyone else, I’ll probably correct people that call my new phone an iPhone 4, and say, “no, it’s the iPhone 4S.”
Because that S stands for “Special.”
