Why the iPhone Changes Everything

Everyone is eagerly awaiting the launch of the iPhone at 6pm on June 29. This isn’t just marketing. It’s a revolution. Here’s why.

Other large phone manufacturers have been at this for years. What could Apple possibly know about delivering a better cell phone experience?

Everything.

The iPhone changes the playing field because Apple has three distinct advantages:

• Internet software. Pure-play hardware companies don’t fully understand how to deliver great Internet software. Software today doesn’t just mean MP3 players and snapshot capabilities, nor is it just about calendar and email. It means making the Internet accessible and easy to use: built-in PDF support; Safari browser; and Youtube. Of course that leads to…
• Integrated design. Because Apple controls the end to end experience, it is delivering a device and software that consumers actually want to use. An ultra-open platform that relies on OEM specifications works well when processor, memory, and power are unlimited. But when these items are at a premium, integrated delivery is the only way to go. There’s another reason Apple is so good at optimizing for a constrained environment and that’s because it uses…
• Startup approach. Apple appears to think and act as if it is a startup, even though it’s a big company. The other companies may have hundreds or thousands of people hard at work on their next generation mobile offerings. But unlike social media, which thrives on the consensus of the many, great design is the result of the wisdom of the few. There are probably a lot of people working on the iPhone project, but only a few who really control and influence the core design.

Today’s consumers are demanding. They have ultra-high expectations about the content they consume and the experience they receive. They live in a market where they can quickly test out an experience, be it a web site or a device, and pass judgment even more quickly.

It’s hard to live up to the incredible hype surrounding the launch of a new mass-market consumer product. But it’s all too easy to underestimate nimble entrepreneurs who understand today’s demanding consumer. Don’t ” they change everything.