Dear Product Managers: Stop comparing your product with the iPhone!
August 7, 2008 by Jayvee Fernandez
Filed under Cell Phones
I attended a press conference a few days ago for a high end smartphone brand. Among us were some tech bloggers, IT journalists and a number of lifestyle editors from the glossies. The product manager enjoyed talking about his new baby – one of the top of the line smartphones that recently hit the market. What was rather peculiar was how he made mention of the Apple iPhone and it sounded more like he was trying to justify why his product X had features Y and Z which the iPhone didn’t have.
Raised eyebrows from a number of tech journalists.
After the conference, I approached him and asked him why the comparison has to be made to the iPhone all the time. I interjected that mentioning a competitor’s product during your own press conference made it sound more like a fit of desperation on your end. The truth is, the iPhone and his product are two different things. He answered me quickly and said that apparently, consumers don’t think that way. Because of the commercial hype it generated, the iPhone is being compared to everything in the market.
I told him that well, we’re IT journalists and technology bloggers — and you don’t need to justify with us how different these two products are. We know. We did our research. We’re well informed.
It is good that product managers are very aware of the competition. But marketing is marketing – they should only mention the “other phone that begins with an i” if a journalist asks a question pertaining to that during a press conference. Otherwise, I don’t see a need to passively promote your competitor’s products.
Do you agree with me? Or do you think that product managers should really just address this question during a product presentation? C’mon guys, be honest!
If it’s a high-end phone at the same price range, there’s no escaping an iPhone comparison. Even if the phone they’re offering is half the iPhone price, it benefits them mentioning how the UI is just like the iPhone and their phone has more features besides.
@BrianB – let’s take an example with the Nokia E71. So not an iPhone but better than it in almost every way. Have you seen it?
This is probably just sour grapes because of the price, but who wouldn’t want a phone, PDA and entertainment device in one sleek package?
No one can ignore the obvious forever: iPhone transcends the ordinary cellphone experience.
If Globe priced a prepaid iPhone at 25k, you’d be among those lining up for one come August 22.
But if you’re arguing that MANUFACTURERS should spend more time with their own ideas for a better smartphone rather than copying iPhone, I totally agree. I will even cite the E71 as a very fine example.