Why Consumers Buy The Mobile Devices They Buy
Several years ago I was hanging out in the INETA TechEd lounge the entire week with different friends. We had a great time, but I was the only person there without a cool phone. I honestly do not recall the first generation iPhone being available at the time, but it was close to its release. Everyone had QWERTY keyboards, some sort of slow Internet connection and of course e-mail access. I had a Motorola ic-502 flip phone. No matter how much my friends gave me a hard time about my “hand crank phone” they could not persuade me to invest a few hundred dollars on a phone that offered me little benefit. Of course that has changed, but it took several more years for me to take the plunge and only after the Windows Phone came to Sprint.
Why did it take me so long? Cost benefit analysis. I still do not check e-mail on my phone very often and back then I knew I did not want my e-mail to go with me. Too much disruption to my normal routine. Plus I was just leaving a phase where I had customers that would send as many as 100 e-mails a day and I really wanted to leave all that noise behind.
The other arguments they made were around web browsing. Which even today is still suspect despite all of my efforts here and in my day job to evangelize good mobile web practices. Back then there was no 3G, just a very slow trickle and when a page finally loaded it was unusable on those really small screens. I had better things in which to invest my money and time.
Fast forward to the eve of 2012 (today). Everyone in the developed world is adopting a new smartphone. Earlier this week Google announced they are activating 700,000 Android devices a day. Android did not even exist during that TechEd. Apple activates around 300,000 devices a day. Microsoft is lucky to activate a million new devices a quarter right now, I am just speculating, of course. So how do consumers or real people decide on what phone they are going to buy? I say it is one of two things, a fashion statement or price.
Fashion Statement
Apple has developed a brand name that people just want associated with themselves. As I thought about it I remembered my early teen years back in the 80's and how much I wanted Ocean Pacific t-shirts because that was the brand all the cool kids were wearing. Jordache, Polo, Swatch Watches etc. were the things to have and of course be seen having. It was not about the product itself. What value did it offer over a regular t-shirt, cheap Timex or Levis? Parents everywhere were posing that question: why should they pay $20 for a t-shirt when the $8 t-shirt accomplished the same goal, to clothe you.
In the many times I have flown out of Ft. Lauderdale's Terminal B, I have sat near passengers waiting for a flight to Islip, NY, on Long Island. I enjoy my time in airports; they serve as a petri dish to me, where I can watch normal people and how they use their mobile devices. So sitting next to this consistent crowd has created many opportunities to observe the following scenario.
Typically there are at least 1-3 Islip passengers talking on their phone, very loudly of course. Usually about how much money they have. But the thing that really strikes me is how these folks hold the phone. Most people hold their phones so it is snugly in their hands with their fingers gripping it on one side, the phone resting against their palm and thumb pressing against the opposite side. Not these folks, they are all talking on an iPhone. So they hold the phone in some sort of Vulcan greeting fashion so their fingers are split in a V, with the index and pinky fingers on opposite sides. The bottom of the phone resting on the bottom of their palms. Its an awkward grip. Go ahead try it for yourself.
One thing I always notice is I can see that shiny Apple logo gleaming between those two middle fingers. Its all about the logo.
Cheap
At the other end of the spectrum I see many adults using their flip or good old-fashioned hand-crank feature phones. Of course the only feature about these phones is they can make phone calls and send text messages. Chatting with a few folks (yes I do talk instead of just stare) I ask why they did not get one of the cheap Android smartphones. Typically the answer is they did not want the data charge because they could not see themselves ever needing to surf the web. I can certainly appreciate their position.
When I talk to Android owners, not geeks, and ask why they chose an Android over the iPhone, it almost always comes down to price. They bought the cheapest smartphone, usually the free one. They were willing to add the data plan, but not pay several hundred dollars for the phone. Fashion was not important to them.
Sometimes I press further and ask why they chose the Android over the cheap Windows Phone (I mean seriously they are often $0.01). Usually they ask what's a Windows Phone? I show them mine and they usually have a moment of feeling ripped off by the store salesman, but that is another topic.
Of course then there are the customers that go into the mobile store looking for Windows Phones only to be told they don’t wont that by the sales person. I have witnessed this twice myself.
Looking at the tablet market I think these same decision values. iPad is the clear dominator at the moment, mostly because Android tablets are priced too high with a tangible quality difference. However we see the HP TouchPad flying off the shelves at $99. The Kindle Fire is also selling in high numbers at $200. This tells me there is going to be a HUGE market for tablets in the sub $500 market. It also tells me the adoption of tablets is following the same exact pattern smartphones have followed.
The Tech Meme world is currently buzzing over why no one buys Windows Phones. Honestly a lot of it comes down to the sales guys in the stores. They get nicer commissions on Droids, period. Technology reviewers tend to like the Windows Phone, but that only goes so far.
I read studies every week about consumer decision making. Sometimes they make sense to me, other times not. I base that on my pure anecdotal surveys. I realize there are often some cultural influences, for example I have not been out of North America in a long time. So decision patterns in other countries will vary I am sure.
The masses choose technology based on price. A smaller but very significant market does not care so much about price and will pay a premium for a brand name. Those purchasing based on price may feel clueless when comparing their options and tend to rely on a trusted figure, the commissioned sales person. In many ways consumer purchasing habits do not change whether it is clothes or technology, only the things they consume.