Thanks to the Nexus One, owning an iPhone is a statement (again)
For more than two years, the iPhone was the only serious contender in the smartphone race. It was the phone that changed everything, the phone that helped the mobile web to its breakthrough. That doesn't mean that there was no competition. There was, and there were competitors with devices that from a technical perspective were superior to the iPhone. Better camera, battery life, more storage and so on. But as we all know, product success is not only about technical specs. The iPhone was THE smartphone for private use when looking at the overall picture: good features, amazing usability, great software, huge developer community (= a lot of apps), perfect marketing.
Now all that changed. One year ago Google launched its Android OS for mobile phones, and today there even is the Google Nexus One - a phone not only being equipped with Android, but carrying the powerful Google brand.
2010 is the year when the iPhone isn't THE only smartphone anymore. The Nexus One is likely to be the first smartphone that could succeed in creating an overall product experience as good as the iPhone ones. Google has the power to leverage its huge brand awareness and customer reach, combine it with the company's pretty good image, a first-class product (which I assume the Nexus One is based on the reviews I read) and a rapidly growing developer community (about 20.000 apps so far, compared to 100.000+ in Apples app store). All that could make the Nexus One a serious iPhone competitor. And by serious I don't mean a device that could threaten the iPhone's success, since the overall smartphone market will explode in 2010 anyway, but a device that will make people's purchase decision more difficult than every before: iPhone or Nexus One will be the big question for many people this year.
But there is another thing that came to my mind when thinking about the upcoming battle: Thanks to the Nexus One, owning an iPhone suddenly becomes a statement (again)!
In a market where there was only one real choice if you wanted to get a great overall product experience, people didn't need to think about why they were going for an iPhone. Since it was the only real alternative, they had to do it if they wanted to own a smartphone satisfying most of their needs. 2010 it's different. Now customers will have to make a conscious decision. iPhone or Nexus One? Apple or Google?
Personally, this new choice makes it easier for me to accept some of the iPhones shortcomings, such as the lack of multitasking or the complicated approval process for applications, which can cause trouble for my favourite web tools to launch iPhone apps (but that's another story which has its pros, too). Why? Because I'm a big fan of market diversity. And I feel better putting up with a few unfulfilled feature requests on my iPhone than outsourcing even more parts of my daily communication to Google.
Don't get me wrong. This is not about Google being evil or something. I truly believe in Googles intention trying to be a good company (= better than others), and there are so many Google products I am using on a regular basis (Google Reader, Docs, Chrome, Search, News). But I always have tried to spread my web usage to at least a few more companies other than Google. Because I am convinced that at some point, Google could have trouble continuing being the good guys. Possibly the day when their ad business is collapsing for some reason and they didn't come up with a new cash cow yet. If they will, maybe that day will never come.
With the presentation of the Nexus One, Google all of a sudden made me expressing a statement by owning an iPhone. A statement for a competitive market and for a web/tech business with a variety of strong companies. I'm a fan of many Google products, which at the same time tells me that I need to continue my strategy of buying/using other tech companies products/services, too.
I have never owned another Apple product than the iPhone. I'm rather a Google than an Apple fanboy. And that's what's giving me a really good conscience by appreciating my iPhone. To not become too depending on one single company. That just can't be clever in the long run, it doesn't matter how good that company is.
