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Editorial
iPhone Technical Hesitation Won’t Affect Sales
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 4:00 PM - by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The iPhone is fairly well understood now. Analysts and technologists have a handle on the iPhone sales, functionality and limitations. That’s leading to a round of hesitation and hope by some, but it likely won’t affect sales.
Two stories caught my attention on Thursday. The first, as the Wall Street Journal, talked about what’s holding some buyers back. The second, at Information Week, under the label of a Buyer’s Guide, pointed out all the things that the iPhone doesn’t do. The theme of both these articles is that the iPhone is now well understood by the community that covers technology, and they’re starting to realize what’s holding some people back and what the next generation iPhone could offer.
This is all part of the evolution of a technology. At first, there is a lot of wonder and excitement. Then writers fuss about technical specifications that are poorly understood. Then they wonder about sales: is the darn thing going to be a market success? Finally, when the device is well understood after three months, the next question is, what can we hope for next? Could the iPhone be unlocked? What will the next generation have that will ease some concerns? Maybe it’s time to wait and see what Apple does next.
The problem is that few of the customers pay any attention that all that fantasizing. On Wednesday, Gene Munster reported that iPhone sales are at 27,000 per day and that Apple may sell another 1.5 million before the end of the year. As a result, while a few technology writers are in a position to digest the past and fantasize about fixes to perceived limitations, the customers are out there buying an iPhone that solves their problems.
That’s what it’s all about. The current iPhone solves problems for people and gives them a great user experience. Few care that it doesn’t have native support for MS Exchange or that it doesn’t have a GPS. It just works, and it makes them happy and productive.
That’s why, for the next few months, we’ll see a lot of articles about how the iPhone isn’t for everyone. We should wait, see what the next generation brings. Meanwhile, posing somewhat of a mystery to those writers, the iPhone will continue to set sales records.
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