14 DAY TRIAL // Do you remember the so-called smartphones from 2006? All buttons, smaller screen, or the big Nokia Communicator. They were the first ones to bring the idea of a smart phone to the market and we even had a few apps for them.
Going even further back, do you remember the mp3 players of 2001? How about the ones from 2006? They were all the same, and whoever wanted to get away from iTunes was choosing USB players with a small LCD screen and 6 buttons to help you navigate your library.
A change in their speech
iPod or iPhone were not the first devices to bring a new concept to the market. Neither were the Apple Watch or the larger iPhone 6 Plus. In 2014, it is not about being the first. Neither was it in 2006 or 2001. It was always about being the best.
In the week after the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launch I've seen lots of tweets, commercials, and hate messages from Samsung itself and Android users. The only argument is that Samsung was the first with a bigger screen. Sure it was. That was the only way to differentiate from an iPhone that had been eating up competition for years in a row.
Samsung tried to copy the original iPhone and they lost millions in court to Apple because of that. Then they started the hate campaign. Whenever I see them release another commercial I think about this memorable quote from Mahatma Gandhi:
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win"
It appears that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will not be a flop after all. We know that the first day of pre-orders has been overwhelming for Apple. Over 4 million iPhones have been ordered. That's in one day! Last year, when the iPhone 5s came out, Apple had 9 million iPhones sold in 3 days. I guess this year they're going to top that as well. Samsung sold 10 million in the first two months!
2014 is not about being the first, it's about being the best. And who can choose the best device, if not the market? Even if you think Samsung has better devices, if they sell only less than half of what Apple sells, it doesn't really matter anymore, does it?
I saw another comparison of the iPhone with the Nexus 4. Did you know that they only sold about 350,000 copies in the first few months? That's what I call a flop.
If specs are that important for you, would you buy an iPhone from 2011? Maybe not. But you would buy a phone that runs a 32-bit operating system in 2014 like all the Android phones? Would you buy a 2006 plastic MacBook? I guess that looks old and the plastic can easily crack, right? Then why would you buy a plastic laptop now instead of choosing the Unibody aluminum MacBook Pro?
The conclusion is simple: if you like something and you consider it useful for your work, play, or productivity, just buy it when it first comes out. If you want the best, wait a little and maybe Apple or other big manufacturers will adopt it and you will be happier.