It’s a truism in this business that volume platforms win, but if my network is anything to go by developers are more than happy to ignore volume and follow the cool. When I say developers I don’t just mean the grassroots though- ISVs are falling over themselves to establish iPhone bona fides. But stop and take a look at Nokia’s results yesterday: the company is now shipping more than 100m units a a quarter. 100m phones… that’s a lot of endpoints. Teenagers use Nokia phones as micro-boom boxes, which may be why Nokia took the frankly crappy business decision to adopt Microsoft DRM. My point – Nokia System 60 is a volume platform. iPhone not so much. Why is everyone so excited about OpenSocial? The potential for volume. If Google today drops news that smells more open than the iPhone (which shouldn’t be too hard) it will be interesting to see if the same market reactions accrue.
disclosure: nothing to see here. move along now…
I wrote this a while ago but never posted so the dates of Nokia’s reporting details are a bit off.
Robert Scoble says:
November 5, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Volume isn’t what turns me on. Usage is. The iPhone affords Web usage. The S60 doesn’t.
JonHead says:
November 17, 2007 at 7:52 pm
It is a lot of endpoints that’s true. Isn’t it the case than in volatile consumer item markets those endpoint are extremely transient? If that’s the case, future flucuations may make that volume a historical footnote rather than a market foundation.
As for web usage as pedicator for teh win; that just baffles me. I have a hundred devices that do that and it’s commonplace nay expected on phones.
Your underlying point – that iPhone mystery and kudos are premised precisely on rarity and exclusivity – is right on the money. But that’s always been Apple’s way
jgovernor says:
November 19, 2007 at 5:30 pm
I guess there is an element of *potential* here – expectations of Apple growth. But also I suppose its also partly self-generating. rarity and exlusivity. Scoble’s take is very US-centric, of course.
Dave Twisleton-Ward says:
November 20, 2007 at 1:20 pm
As has been said elsewhere, the phone features of the iPhone and the provider lock-in make it less attractive in Europe than in the US. This christmas I’m going for an iPod touch, and will probably get a more basic phone than my N80, which didn’t work great as a phone or a music player.
About Open Social – the missus raised this point: who is going to join Google’s version of Facebook? Pretty much all her non-techy family are now on FB, even her 73 year old great-uncle. So why would they move to another platform when they’ve just got used to the idea of social networking? There has to be a big incentive – a gPhone that seamlessly integrates the phone and Open Social could do the trick.
jgovernor says:
November 22, 2007 at 2:04 pm
your point about facebook is a good one. it is *the* network for many people… not just a