Thursday, September 20, 2012

the democratization of the smartphone

20 years ago I did not know what a mobile phone was.
14 years ago I got my first cheap mobile. A Bosch 509 dual band phone. (which I hacked to have vibration)
2 years ago I got my first android smartphone. A ZTE Blade rebadged as Orange San Francisco.

Over the years I had many mobiles, most of which I still have. And all got replaced for one reason or the other. Always though, always they were relatively cheap compared to the competition. I never gave much money for them which was good in retrospect since over the last few years I've been changing devices often (usually after they break). So why spend a fortune on a device that will be replaced sooner than later?

From the known tech blog gizchina:
"My phone cost 4500 Yuan in China ($708), 18 months later phones costing just 899 Yuan ($140) blow my phone away in terms of hardware, and of course performance! Phones costing a little more such as the Xiaomi M2 which is 1999 ($318) make my phone look like a old black and white LCD Nokia!"

A couple more coments, this time from readers of wired.com

" There are many free versions of apps available for Android, the cables and peripherals are usually industry standards so they are both cheap and you can use them on different devices made by different companies in different ecosystems and there aren't that many 3rd party accessories to blow cash on. Also the music downloaded on an Android device can be easily played/transferred outside the Android ecosystem so [...] Apple users are trapped. Apple users spend far more on paid apps, cables, connection kits, peripherals and 3rd party docks/players ect most of which is completely useless outside Apples walled garden. While the music can now be moved around it's a pain in the ass to do so. Apple's goal is to lock you in, their business model is designed to trap you. By the time you realize you want a change you can't without, in some case's, a significant financial hit. Imo thats what keeps most Android users away. That and the lack of specs, device/manufacturer choice."
Couldn't have said it better.

Apple reserves its products for some sort of financial elite, while other manufacturers wish to catch on to almost everyone that Apple neglects. More or less like Romney who disregards the 47% of Americans who voted for Obama.

So I got my first smartphone 2 years ago. It costed 120€ on pay as you go.

Had android not come along, I wouldn't have been able to afford a smartphone. Unless perhaps I
was considering getting a secondhand and outdated iPhone (or most probably a restive screen pda which used to be all the rage, and its kinda weird to see that chinese manufacturers still sell restive screen smartphones, but I guess not all can afford a capacitive phone). Which, had android not come along, would cost a great deal more than they currently do, since Apple would essentially be the smartphone monopoly.

Thinking about Apple vs Samsung, indeed the consumer lost rather than just Samsung. I can't but admit that Apple brought great innovation in the market however Android democratized it. With the existense of cheap Android smartphones, almost everyone is able to take part in the mobile revolution. Had Apple been the monopoly, only a fraction of the current users would have been able to participate. Fact that would mean less revenue for the content providers and the mobile carriers as well.
Here is an interesting article about the actual iPhone manufacturing costs. They calculate a parts cost of 118 quid, and a labor transport etc cost of 58 quid. So from "a total of about £176 to manufacture an iPhone that retails at £499. This represents a profit for Apple of £323 per iPhone."
Thats what I call a robbery plain and simple.

As an example of what is available out there:
This is an android 4 phone sold for 77$. Unlocked without contract and costly addons.
So I wait for the day that I see Apple offering budget iPhones. Till then, so long and thanks for all the fish...

No comments:

Post a Comment