There’s Nothing Called An iPhone-killer

After the “iPod-killer”, now come the “iPhone-killers”. But just as no music player has been able to even challenge iPod’s numero uno position, similarly it seems highly unlikely that any phone with features comparable to the iPhone could compete head-to-head with Apple’s new creation.

Some of the handsets that are being seen as strong competitors to the iPhone & why they lag behind iPhone:

NOKIA N95

• Runs on Symbian OS 9.2 (latest) which is the most virus-prone OS in any handset.
• Nokia has so far failed to do any wonders with its Multimedia packed N-Series.
• In the last 4-5 years (since the launch of MotoRazr) Nokia could never produce a phone to challenge the mighty Razr.
• The phone, although packed with great features, isn’t cheap.
• A low internal memory (160MB) compared to iPhone.
• Its smart phone like features could keep it away from the hands of the average users.
• Nokia has never made a “beautiful” phone. Its handset designs are very traditional and Nokia hardly experiments (barring the new sleek 6300).

LG PRADA

• It lacks an operating system.
• Low internal memory which could result in frequent hanging of the phone.
• LG is not a brand as big as Apple or Nokia; most people would prefer market leaders to LG.

HTC TOUCH

• HTC, like Apple, is new company in the handset market but Apple is still light years ahead in terms of brand recognition & reliability.
• Still this phone comes closest to challenging the iPhone.
• It has Windows Mobile Edition 6, an in-built processor.

SAMSUNG UPSTAGE

• Revolutionary design but it still can’t be compared to the looks that iPhone has.
• Although Samsung is the world’s No.3 in handset market, it has so far failed to match the big players (Nokia & Motorola).
• Samsung hasn’t yet produced a phone that could that the world by storm.

Not that iPhone is perfect.

• It lacks 3G connectivity.
• Has a modest 2-megapixel camera, which could have been (and should have been) better.
• People have their doubt about the durability of the large touch screen.
• It lacks features like Visual Radio etc.

But it has some features which could attract customers in large numbers.

• It has the impressive Mac OS X. Well that you cannot find in any other phone.
• People certainly want to try Mac & iPhone gives them a relatively cheaper option for the ultimate OS transition.
• The looks of the iPhone are simply great.
• Has a huge internal memory of 4 to 8 GB.
• And last but certainly not the least it’s an iPod.

iPhone certainly has its shortfalls but the world has still to witness the birth of an iPhone-killer.

MotoRazr & A380: The Stark Similarities

Two of the greatest and the most recognized products of our generation come from Motorola and Airbus. They are the world famous MotoRazr and Airbus A380. Both completely different yet having many strange similarities.

MotoRazr completely changed Motorola’s fortunes giving the mobile phones manufacturer a huge advantage over its arch rival Nokia which dominated the market for years. Although Nokia still dominates the market but Motorola completely made the Finnish giant to panic. Motorola, by launching MotoRazr, took the world by storm. The phone is about to achieve the 10 million mark in sales.

No other manufacturer has been able to challenge the Razr; not the other mobile phone companies but the Razr itself ate the Motorola Company. Motorola completely and wholly committed itself to the development & marketing of the Razr.

Motorola made millions of phones and from them made billions, doubled its profits while its Nokia’s profits halved. But now Motorola has no successor to continue the Razr’s legacy. At the time when the mobile users are asking for high speed connectivity like 3G, Motorola emphasized on design. End result, Motorola now has nothing to offer as far high speed connectivity or multimedia packed phones are concerned.

Motorola’s profits turned into losses forcing the company to cut 7,500 jobs. After giving the world the most successful mobile handset ever Motorola has just nothing to offer which could excite the customer.

Now Airbus A380. This ‘bird’ attracted the whole world, camera persons scrambled on airports’ roofs to get a glimpse of this super jumbo. Airbus dubbed it as the solution to the rapidly increasing passenger pressure on the airport terminals. The European giant presented it as a fitting replacement of the aging fleet of Boeing 747s worldwide.

The first double decker passenger aircraft is truly the first luxury aircraft. Virgin Atlantic and the Emirates have planned spas, swimming pools & lavish bars onboard. But the company has completely failed to deliver on time.

Delivery is late by 18 months, two of the major buyers (UPS & FedEx) have backed out and the Airbus is struggling to break even. A380 became the priority and the company neglected the other products betting only on the super jumbo. Production and up gradation of aircrafts like A350 was put on the back burner which meant that Airbus lost on every front.

With the production went down the two CEOs and the company continues to lose money. There’s very little chance that the company would end up in profits with this aircraft; they need to sell 250 crafts just to break even and that figure remains elusive, at least for now.

That’s the tale of two products which completely changed the world and, unfortunately, also their companies.

Marketing Strategy: Nokia Still Not Learning

Nokia maybe the world leader in the mobile phones arena but it seems as if it has completely lost its way as far as the marketing strategies are concerned. No doubt that that the products from the Finnish company are some of the very best in the world, but the company still hasn’t found a profitable way to market its goods. The very reason that other mobile phone companies are fast eating up Nokia’s market share is their superior (yet simple) marketing practices.

Motorola and Samsung must now be in the FUW list (frequently used words) in Nokia’s Board meetings. These companies have made Nokia pay dearly for its rudiment approach towards marketing its phones. The aggressive marketing practices followed by Motorola have hit Nokia very hard in that it’s losing very crucial global market share every month to its American competitor.

Nokia, quite alarmed by the dropping sales of its phones, is now putting all its weight behind the N-Series range. The N-Series is packed with multimedia features and Nokia believes that these phones might woo the costumers back to the big daddy of the mobile phone world. But Espoo we have a problem!! (Nokia is headquartered at Espoo, Finland).

While Motorola (quite intelligently) gives a dashy-flashy name to every phone it brings to the market, Nokia tends to do the exact opposite. Nokia from the very start has relied on numbers rather than names. This strategy worked very well but only because there wasn’t much competition back then. But times have changed; every month sees at least a dozen new handsets from an equal numbers of manufacturers. Consumers now have more than they can choose.

Consumers are more attracted towards names because that way they can easily relate to the features of the phone. This is evident from the success of the MotoRazr, MotoSlvr, MotoRizr and MotoKrzr. These phones are not packed with heavy multimedia features like N-Series but they still are selling like hot chocolate cakes. Just by reading the name of the handset one gets a broad idea about what the phone looks like or what are its features.

Nokia advertises more than Motorola does but still its market share is dropping. Motorola does not need to spend much money for the promotion of its products, it doesn’t have to worry about the marketing of these phones; it just simplifies its job by naming its products right. Take the example of Apple, didn’t have to do much to promote its iPhone. Thanks to the leaked photos & technical specs, it became the most anticipated gadget of all time.

It’s high time that Nokia starts applying some sense to its marketing strategies. It doesn’t have to do anything great, just name its phones. A few months ago, a highly placed Nokia official told Reuters that his company would soon go the Motorola way and would start using names for its new phones. It’s in Nokia’s best interest that it takes to that path as early as possible otherwise the once market leader might see its market share plummeting to even lower depths.