Dave Winer made the point that the press isnt treating Apples competitors fairly. On Friday I will be at Samsung in Korea. The past few days I have been hanging out with execs from Telstra, Australias biggest carrier. They sell lots of things that arent from Apple. But there is a reason that Apple gets more play: it is more interesting than other companies to most of you. Telstras execs showed me how much demand there is for Apple products. They say there is nothing else like it. Android has more market share but only when you put all the companies together and include low-income nations like China and India. (Both of which have many more people than richer nations like USA, Australia, and UK. I remember taking a photo of a new iPhone which got more than 700,000 views. No other product has come close and every journalist tells me the same that Apple stories consistently out pull ones from other companies. The only time I have been elbowed at a press conference was at an Apple event. This post was written completely on my iPhone which argues with another post Dave made. So how can other companies change the dynamic? Keep hitting Apple where it hurts: at the high end. Telstras execs say there is much more demand for high-end iPhones. That is where Apple dominates. But LG and Samsung keep banging out products with better screens and faster specs. To me those things matter less than an awesome user experience and the best apps. Nearly every CEO uses an iPhone as main device and this shows up as better apps. Put yourself in a developers shoes. Are you going to fix your CEOs bugs first? Of course you will, if you value your career, which most do. Can Samsung change that dynamic? Can Microsoft? LG? HTC? Or will it be a newer company like mi (it is seeing extraordinary demand in India and other places). Disclaimer: I didnt get an invite to Apples event. Apple wants to reward press at name-brand outlets like Recode, WSJ, NYT, USA Today, etc. Apple still hasnt gotten that social media outlets are important. I find it interesting that Samsung is inviting me to its headquarters. Cant wait to see what I learn. Just arrived in Hong Kong.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 22:02:03 +0000