maemo.org - Talk - Know thy enemy...

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Re: Know thy enemy...

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveP1 (Post 355921)

An example would be seeing how many of your friends are within a kilometer of your current location and linking them all together in an ad hoc network to discuss where to meet for drinks.

google latitude?

Re: Know thy enemy...

Laughing Man, I totally agree with you (and the author) that greater choice can cause "analysis paralysis"...but in the end, we know that kid isn't leaving without a piece of candy in his/her hand.

If out of 10 choices 7 are android, 1 is iphone, 1 is maemo, and 1 is other...there will be a lot more people choosing android than the others. Assuming everyone catches up on the hardware side of things.

Right now, iphone and android look like chocolate bars to me (tasty yet plain)... and windows mobile looks like a melted tootsie roll. Hopefully maemo will be a new treat with a different flavor.:p

Re: Know thy enemy...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laughing Man (Post 355910)

It has been proven in psychology and in marketing the greater choices a user has the more problematic it is for decision making. Until something negative comes along and forces them to choose (e.g. a kid that is in front of the candy rack that has many choices will be immobilized because they can't choose one out of all their favorites. Yet tell them you will leave in 5 minutes and if they haven't chosen by then they'll choose one). But that doesn't mean that they don't like choice.

A caveat: a very recent study refined that premise, demonstrating that only when too many choices induce anxiety is this really an issue. The main driving factor appears to be time as you say... which makes perfect sense. If I have days to decide, 20 choices is great. If I have mere minutes, not so much.

But I'm in alignment anyway. 60 "varieties" of toothpaste on my grocer's shelf is about 50 too many IMO. :D

Re: Know thy enemy...

What OS does the iPhone run..............nobody cares

Mike C

Re: Know thy enemy...

Quote:

Originally Posted by tso (Post 355927)

google latitude?

It's a start (and it is what I had in mind as the basis for my example). What companies should be doing is rethinking the phone paradigm. What could you do with millions of phones all connected to connected servers at the same time? What would people want to do? I'd suggest asking Tokyo teenagers. ;)

Re: Know thy enemy...

Is it just me, or is this article confusing global statistics with an argument about the U.S. market? At the end of the article, he states:

"The iPhone and Kindle will continue to rule well into the foreseeable future."

This is obviously a statement about the American market.

It takes a while to realize that the rest of the article is making an argument about 2nd place globally --- i.e., it takes for granted that Symbian will remain in first place.

Which is fine, but I think he's missing the appeal of Android in the global market. The ability to use an OS on a huge range of hardware (high and low end) is exactly why Nokia/Symbian is the global leader today. Sure U.S. consumers tend to flock in herds to the new status symbol, etc. But diversity in a global context, far from creating a "paralyzing" choice, instead allows greater penetration into a wide variety of markets.

U.S. reviewers tend to think in terms of the dominance of a particular device, both because Apple jumped out in front of everyone with the iPhone, but also because carriers in the U.S. tend to offer very limited options (evidence: the relative paucity of Android handsets in the U.S.).

That said, he does have a point about the U.S media. The New York Times, National Public Radio, Newsweek--they all have a very thinly veiled crush on Apple. But I don't think Apple is nearly as much of a trendy consumer hipster crush object l in many parts of the world.

Re: Know thy enemy...

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveP1 (Post 355921)

Two comments.

Network Effect - As has been pointed out, any reasonably smartphone can access Facebook or Twitter or whatever. You don't need an iPhone or an N900 to do that. But the social aspect of the network effect is not connecting through other apps but connecting directly. An example would be seeing how many of your friends are within a kilometer of your current location and linking them all together in an ad hoc network to discuss where to meet for drinks. That's not to say all the apps exist now. But the value of the apps are linked to the number of users and thus if the iPhone and the N900 both released a similar networking app in two months, the iPhone app would be significantly more valuable than the N900 app because of the potential user base.

True but I think that's where strategies of the company differ. Apple would prefer you to create an app just for their system. While Google would create a web-based solution (e.g. Latitude) and support multiple devices. Thus the user base question would then be irrelevant since you can use any device to use that service.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveP1 (Post 355921)

Choice Paralysis and Confusion - This should not be underestimated. The mass market will gravitate towards easily understandable and easily used solutions that are good enough and away from more complicated solutions that are better. A confused market segment will lose customers to a less confused market segment. Unfortunately, Android may have made the wrong decision in allowing carrier customization. It leads consumers to feel that there are multiple Androids and that confusion will drive some consumers away. Similarly, the confusion between the mobile Linux based OSs - Android, Maemo, Moblin, and probably et cetera, will drive some consumers away. The mass market likes safe products and they like products that other people own because it validates their buying decision.

All Google really has to do is market Android in a fashion that points out no matter what you choose, you will have access to the same applications and services (Granted depending on the hardware it may not run the nice shiny stuff). Why do you think it would be different then PCs where Windows is the same, but hardware is different. Granted there are users who..

*sighs*

Buy expensive stuff just to check their email and browse Facebook. And the people who buy cheap stuff and complain when a high-end game doesn't run or Photoshop runs slow.

Re: Know thy enemy...

Quote:

Originally Posted by bronzetank (Post 355929)

Laughing Man, I totally agree with you (and the author) that greater choice can cause "analysis paralysis"...but in the end, we know that kid isn't leaving without a piece of candy in his/her hand.

The point was not that the kid wouldn't choose =P. Of course the kid will choose, the kid much rather select a favorite candy rather than have none of them.

Re: Know thy enemy...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laughing Man (Post 355964)

Granted there are users who..

*sighs*

Buy expensive stuff just to check their email and browse Facebook.

and hope they look good doing so at the local coffee place...

Re: Know thy enemy...

The article does not take into account that at present the iPhone is made for similar hardware. Eg. all 3 iterations of the iPhone have a 480x320 screen. What happens when they run into legacy issues and release a higher resolution phone with 800x480? Will all apps still be made for a 480x320 screen resolution or will those users be alienated with many apps only working for a 800x480 screen? This is the kind of problem the likes of Symbian has faced as it is not one size fits all with all the different versions released over the years.