New iPhone competitors just smell bad

I love older movies. Especially those comedies that came out during my formative years. Actors like John Belushi or Steve Martin. They had some great movies and also some great writers. Those writers sometimes spoke of universal truths quite likely without realizing it.

Example one: The Jerk with Steve Martin. In one particular scene he becomes VERY excited when the new phone books arrive. Jackie Mason can’t figure out why he’s so happy. Turns out he got his name in the phone book for the first time and now big things were going to happen to him. The fact that his name was chosen at random by a psychopath later really has nothing to do with this analogy, but it did make for some comedic moments. My point here is that new phones are now coming out. Many of these phones are being marketed with iPhone-like qualities with much fanfare. Except my question is why? It’s THEIR market to lose so the first thing they do is draw comparisons to the newcomer?

Example two: The Blues Brothers with John Belushi. In the first case it wasn’t so much Belushi but the actor playing off him, the late Ben Piazza as the husband and father in the restaurant that a former band member now is employed at. As Jake and Elwood sit down with what can only be described as well rehearsed bad manners, he calls the head waiter (the very same person they want back in the band) over to complain. He asks to be seated at another table because Jake and Elwood smell…they smell bad. These new phones smell bad. Not that they aren’t capable, but more on that later.

In the same movie Carrie Fisher (of Princess Leia fame as well) meets up with Belushi after her repeated attempts to kill them in a sewer with an M-16 (perhaps an AR-15, my knowledge of firearms isn’t that great). Apparently he left her at the alter and her well-thought out measured response was to kill them and destroy anything else that might happen to be in the way. Belushi naturally not wanting to die, lets loose a flourish of excuses as to why he couldn’t be there besides having the best of intentions. I quote, “I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!”

Many of these new phones also sound like bad excuses.

Look, it isn’t a question over whether or not there are more capable phones. Phones with more features or even a lower price. That’s the mistake that SanDisk, Microsoft, and so many others made with their iPod competitors. It’s not enough to even have a superior marketshare at the beginning.

When you cater to a specific market, as RIM and SamSung do with their current phones in the corporate world, you end up mostly being stuck with that specific market. Rarely do you break out to what some might consider to be more lucrative markets. Why? Because you stand still. This product ALWAYS worked in the past, why change success? The problem with that kind of thinking is that eventually someone comes along with, not necessarily a better widget, just one that works with a different type of market.

Who are RIM, Motorola, and SamSung mostly advertising to? The business world. Who is Apple marketing to? Everyone else. They followed a similar path with the iPod. Make it easy, make it look good, make it so anyone can use a product without a 50 page manual or having to learn a new written language (Palm), and make it affordably sexy (No, $599 wasn’t my idea of affordably sexy, but $399? Now $199?). The buyers will come. Once word gets out, you add the features (like say…Exchange support) that other markets want. It can (though it hasn’t…yet) become a snowball effect on the market.

Do I honestly believe that RIM, SamSung, Motorola, AREN’T paying attention? That they don’t see what’s happening? That they don’t remember the SAME mistakes made in the past by iPod and iTunes competitors? Those three companies didn’t get where they are by being stupid. They are offering what they believe to be the answer to the iPhone. The problem is that they don’t currently have the momentum. They are RE-acting instead of acting.

Make a BETTER phone. Stop trying to come up with an answer to the iPhone because there isn’t necessarily one. Beat Apple through innovation, not with “same same look we can do it too!” features. These new phones stink of desperation. And Ben Piazza (if he wasn’t dead) would want to be seated at another table.