Well, sort of. The honest truth is that on a feature-by-feature basis the iPhone does not outstrip many other phones. When you factor in cost, then the iPhone starts to look like a questionable purchasing decision. (Full disclosure: I am a repeat Apple customer and am on 3rd iPhone.)
Several friends of mine are completely baffled by the iPhone fascination. (Yes, they are engineers and some of them are in the mobile business.) To them, the equation is simple – same or better features, lower costs = easy decision. Also, they always complain about how the iPhone “limits your choices” and doesn’t make everything customizable.
I call this engitalk or techno-speak because it’s a logic that doesn’t take into account the emotional part of the consumer experience. (And, yes, even if you are business to business company, purchasing decisions are still emotional. Ever heard the saying – Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM?)
So, why does the iPhone continue to be iconic? Whenever I ask this question, the answer is always – its design! It’s so sleek, so smooth! Everything is so intuitive. Well, yes, but that’s only part of the answer.
The more expansive answer is much more subtle and nuanced. The truth is Apple deeply understands what its customers VALUE, and puts the emphasis on that rather than what cool features they could offer. Working with tech companies, I see engineers fall into this trap all the time. They just can’t understand why the new, shiny product they’ve created with its bazillion features isn’t selling.
The secret to the iPhone is:
- They’ve limited the choices you can make. This seems counter-intuitive. But, statistically, people are happier when they have more limited options. It’s less confusing and overwhelming. Apple understands that, not only do I not want to make the choice about what button should activate what program, but that I am not qualified to optimize my own experience. I just want to pick it up and have it work.
- They handle the entire customer experience. Last week, I broke my iPhone for the 3rdtime. (Yes, I can be a bit of a clutz.) Let’s say I had purchased another smartphone. What would have happened? A semi-qualified telecom agent would want me to renew my contract for the fifth time to get a discounted phone. Oh and it would take two days. With my iPhone, I scheduled an appointment with the Genius bar online, handed over my phone and was given a new phone in ten minutes. It took longer to restore it than replace it.
- They control what’s on their phone. In the age of open-source everything, this is a difficult call to make. You want to encourage innovation but, at the same time, open source doesn’t always produce the best results, at least not quickly. So, yes, you can develop an app for the iPhone but you have to use their standards. This irritates developers to no end but, for me, I am thankful. Part of the reason I pay a premium is because I want the better experience without having to worry about it.
In short, Apple is customer-driven not feature-driven. They know that their customers value their experience and convenience over snazzy, new features. That’s what makes them #1 when, maybe just maybe, they shouldn’t be.
