News

Features Draw iPhone Interest, Not Apple

Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 9:50 AM - by

iPhone hype has reached a fevered pitch, and some experts have attributed that to brilliant marketing and branding on Apple's part. A recent study by Compete Inc, however, showed that iPhone interest is actually based on product features instead, according to Forbes.

The Compete study revealed that consumers are far more interested in phone performance, ease of use, price, and battery life. The fact that Apple makes the iPhone played only a small part in device interest.

When asked how important specific features are when deciding to buy an iPhone, price ranked at 81 percent, performance came in at 77 percent, battery life ranked at 76 percent, and ease of use at 75 percent. The lowest ranked factor at 32 percent was the fact that the iPhone is an Apple product.

What the study seems to indicate is that consumers are more interested in cell phones and smartphones that are easy to use - something that they feel is missing from the current offerings from the likes of Motorola, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and others. It also means these companies have a lot of work to do to build devices that actually compete with the iPhone as a whole package, and not just offer devices with similar functionality.

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daemon said:

member since 17 May 2007 with 305 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:34 am

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What the study seems to indicate is that consumers are more interested in cell phones and smartphones that are easy to use - something that they feel is missing from the current offerings from the likes of Motorola, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and others.

Jeff, you sure know how to make baffling leaps of logic. You take a study that was designed to find out what made people interested in the iPhone, features or brand name, and apply the findings that people who are interested in the iPhone are more interested in the features than in the brand name to meaning that everyone thinks that the iPhone is easier to use than anything from anybody else.

Perhaps you'd next like to tell us about how the iPhone is a much better gaming platform than the PC based on this report. /sarcasm

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:47 am

[quote="daemon"]

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Perhaps you'd next like to tell us about how the iPhone is a much better gaming platform than the PC based on this report. /sarcasm

Hear all of that buzzing? That's people talking about the iPhone. While his logic may seem a bit of a stretch to you, he still has a point. Smartphones have been around for years and they've not been accepted as mainstream. Suddenly, Apple announces iPhone, a phone that has similar capabilities but is much more straight-forward to navigate, and the mainstream can't stop, and hasn't stopped talking about it.

Apple nailed it. The fact that it was Apple that nailed it completely pisses you off, but two things are for certain: this writer's point is valid and people really were waiting for an easy-to-use communicator, and 2) the fact that Apple made this product isn't a coincidence.

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jbruni said:

member since 14 Jul 2006 with 73 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:52 am

Doesn't seem like a big leap of logic to me. If the users are preferring iPhone for its features and they are not as interested in other brands' phones, and if the brand itself is not the factor, then obviously the other brands don't make phones with interesting features. Perhaps, daemon, you're not educated in logic.

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brett_x said:

member since 24 Jan 2006 with 307 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 22, 2007 12:53 pm

The survey is severely flawed if you ask me. Asking someone why they are going to buy something isn't necessarily going to illicit their true intentions. Doing a study that asks questions about the whole thought process of being interested in the phone can be a better measure of people's feelings/intentions.

All that survey showed was how many people admit that they'll buy it just because it is Apple... About 32%. What they are missing is the real point: How many will buy it because Apple is offering those features (/claiming that these features work)? Probably far more.

If you had another Motorolla product coming out with the same features, would people be really interested? Or would they expect that the product will impress them only marginally? Probably the latter.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2003 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 22, 2007 12:57 pm

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daemon wrote:

Jeff, you sure know how to make baffling leaps of logic. You take a study that was designed to find out what made people interested in the iPhone, features or brand name, and apply the findings that people who are interested in the iPhone are more interested in the features than in the brand name to meaning that everyone thinks that the iPhone is easier to use than anything from anybody else.

If you actually had read the Forbes article, you would get part of your answer:

"A recent study by Compete Inc. asked 680 potential iPhone shoppers this question: "How important would each of the following be on your decision to purchase an iPhone?" The results were revealing:

Price of the device: 81%

Performance of the phone: 77 %

Battery life: 76%

Overall ease of use: 75%

Design/look of device: 46%

Ease of using touch screen: 45%

Ability to synch device with music collection: 44%

Wi-fi: 37%

Ease of accessing e-mail: 37%

And, in last place: The fact that Apple makes the device: 32%"

Notice that they asked what factors would be more important, not necessarily which had positive answers.

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daemon said:

member since 17 May 2007 with 305 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 22, 2007 2:04 pm

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Guest wrote:

Apple nailed it. The fact that it was Apple that nailed it completely pisses you off,

Now that you've completely diagnosed my feelings about Apple and the iPhone without once asking my opinion about the company or the product, perhaps you'd like to tell me about how my father didn't hug me enough and I have an Oedipus Complex oh Doctor Frued. /sarcasm

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but two things are for certain: this writer's point is valid

Opinions are valid because they're opinions, his analysis based upon the report is what I'm questioning. The report didn't address whether anybody thought that these features were missing from other manufacturer's phones. Or even if they thought the features of the iPhone met what they wanted.

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and people really were waiting for an easy-to-use communicator,

Um... yea this statement doesn't make any sense.

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and 2) the fact that Apple made this product isn't a coincidence.

Yea. Because Jobs saw the Onyx Concept Phone and said "That's going to be the iPhone that everyone wants, but we're going to do it 'better' than that." Before Jobs even thought of the iPhone there had been rampant rumours, speculation, and excitement about the posibility of Apple producing an iPhone. So no, there isn't any coincidence that Apple announces a product that is the exact thing that their customers having been clamouring for.

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gslusher wrote:

Notice that they asked what factors would be more important, not necessarily which had positive answers.

Thank you for the support gslusher.

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Mikuro said:

member since 15 Jun 2002 with 444 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 22, 2007 2:16 pm

Gslusher, that seems to say even LESS about the competition. There's nothing to say that the people who value features or ease of use most favor the iPhone over its competition, as this article implies.

I think the fact that 32% of the people said the fact that it's made by Apple matters to them says quite a lot about branding. For other brands, I think that would be a lot closer to 0%. Furthermore, you have to consider that many people would not even consider the iPhone if not for Apple's marketing and branding, based on the simple fact that they wouldn't even know about it.

I, for example, can't name a single other smartphone slated for the market. And I wouldn't be able to name the iPhone either if it wasn't coming from Apple. If someone asked me if branding would enter my decision-making, I would say no, but obviously it already has, subconsciously. That's a big part of marketing and branding.

I agree with the source article completely....except that I think it, too, makes an unwarranted leap from the numbers.

Edit: Actually, the phrase "on their decision to purchase an iPhone" (not whether to purchase one) leaves a little room for interpretation. The question can be seen as implying a purchase, i.e., "hypothetically speaking, if you were to purchase an iPhone, what would your reasons be?" In that case the conclusions are justified. It seems like a silly way to pose a question, and a clumsy way to phrase it, though. I still don't think that's what they actually meant to say.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jun 22, 2007 2:32 pm

Quote
Guest wrote:
[quote="daemon"]
Quote

Perhaps you'd next like to tell us about how the iPhone is a much better gaming platform than the PC based on this report. /sarcasm

Hear all of that buzzing? That's people talking about the iPhone. While his logic may seem a bit of a stretch to you, he still has a point. Smartphones have been around for years and they've not been accepted as mainstream. Suddenly, Apple announces iPhone, a phone that has similar capabilities but is much more straight-forward to navigate, and the mainstream can't stop, and hasn't stopped talking about it.

Apple nailed it. The fact that it was Apple that nailed it completely pisses you off, but two things are for certain: this writer's point is valid and people really were waiting for an easy-to-use communicator, and 2) the fact that Apple made this product isn't a coincidence.

The iPhone hasn't been accepted as mainstream either, and if Apple hits their optimistic target of 1% of the market, that's still not mainstream. Users are not drawn to the iPhone because of its performance and ease of use, the phone is not out and so people don't know how easy it is to use, let alone it's performance. People are reacting to the hype & marketing, not the product. Yes, people don't care that much that the phone is made by Apple. But the Apple marketing machine has lead people to believe that the phone will be great, not the phone itself leading people to these conclusions.

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