When it comes to smartphone related headlines, the iPhone and Android OS dominate like nothing else. Symbian, webOS and BlackBerry receive lots of attention, but nothing even close to the fever pitched headlines that these two can muster up. What constantly amazes me is that for every excitable smartphone users whose pulse races when a new rumour surfaces, there are a thousand smartphone users who couldn’t care less.
RIM is the classic counter balance to the continual hype surrounding the iPhone and Android. It sells many more smartphones, but does not garner the kind of media attention seen elsewhere. BlackBerry users are quieter, if we ignore Pinstack and CrackBerry, and looking widely RIM does not generate the kind of publicity afforded to the main two. It is a curiosity in a world where it dominates.
The iPhone and Android thoroughly deserve the attention, don’t get me wrong, but how much of it is just words that sell and how much of it comes from Apple and Google in the first place? Apple is the master of smartphone marketing, but also the master at producing something which makes you sit up and stare. The hardware warrants the attention and so does Android OS, but are we all living in a tech bubble that the rest of the world still looks at as more than a little geeky.
Almost everyone I know who owns an iPhone, BlackBerry or HTC Hero has zero interest in news related to their phone. They use it, they download apps and that is as far as it goes for them. These are the people who drive the market and Apple and Google seem to be the only companies capable of holding their attention for more than a minute.
No offence but the people are know with iPhones are just as excited about new iphone developments as me. ALmost 1 in 3 people in my industry (medicine) seem to have an iPhone and as the local geek in this group I am asked by most if not all of the iPhone users about the announcement from apple on the 27th.
Maybe it’s the demographic that’s different between your circles and mine (?businessmen? journalists?) and maybe the age group as well?
I do agree though that the blackberry owners are mostly the quiet group, most are issued by their work, the remainder are email fiends, neither group have anything to crow about as to why they own them as opposed to all the apps that iphones have.
The irony is that I work in mobile telecoms.