Let me juxtapose two datapoints:
Exhibit 1 is Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer scoffing at the $500 price for the iPhone back at the beginning of 2007 after the iPhone was announced. He suggested that the Motorola Q and other Windows-driven smartphone were at the right price-point and had the critical hardware keyboard feature that customers required:
Exhibit 2 is recent figures from Canalys (with further analysis by RoughlyDrafted) showing Apple’s iPhone taking 27% of the U.S. market for smartphones in Q3. This puts the iPhone second only in sales to RIM’s Backberry and ahead of the aggregate sales of all Windows Mobile device.
But even more telling about the iPhone experience is the mobile browser stats for November, showing 47% of mobile device browsers going to major sites were from the iPhone.
[chart from roughlydrafted]
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March 6, 2008 at 7:45 am
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December 19, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Jason Gunnoe
Simply put, good design sells. Human usability and compatibility isn’t what we are used to seeing in the computing/technology world. For some reason, ergonomic design in this technology age has no champion. It certainly is not lead by the likes of Dell, HP, or Gateway. Most of the platforms arrive at their final form through a Mies-like form follows function approach, generally governed by various “design silos” that stretch from product manufacturers to software developers. In order to be successful you have to have an “Architect” over the project with near absolute control of the end result of each of these silos along the entire product lifecycle. This isn’t typical in todays world wide market. Although, Apple is making good progress in pushing this era into the next stage of maturity. I have enjoyed reading your posts, I’ve been looking for a design sub-culture that brings topics like this to the table.
jg
December 20, 2007 at 7:02 am
Henning
I wonder how many blog posts were inspired by this interview. I wrote one too:
http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2007/01/19/iphone-pricing-steve-ballmer-and-strategy/
January 17, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Brandon
Also worth note, NYTimes reports on Google seeing a surge in iPhone traffic. “The data is striking because the iPhone, an Apple product, accounts for just 2 percent of smartphones worldwide.”
January 28, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Hoot
How typical for Microsoft to miss the point. Yes, it’s called an iPhone, but, it’s not a phone!