Let the wild smartphone rumpus begin.
Google has just jumped into the pool, launching its own branded cellphone, Nexus One, after leasing its Android smartphone technology to no less than 32 wireless carriers – Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile among them.
Regardless of those partnerships, Google is going the Nexus One route wireless-less, as the Wall Street Journal notes (subscription required).
Google is also going up against a tough smartphone marketplace: According to the WSJ, BlackBerry (aka CrackBerry) currently occupies roughly half of the smartphone category; iPhone has roughly a quarter.
(Close captioned for the math-impaired: BlackBerry has twice the market share of iPhone.)
But iPhone has twice the share of mind..
True, BlackBerry has a very expensive – and, I suspect, ineffective since it doesn’t show the device itself – “All You Need Is Love” ad campaign running right now (examples here).
But these days, all you need is buzz. And iPhone’s got it.
Google needs to get it if the search giant wants to be a smartphone player.
I thought the “droid does” spots that have been running for the past couple of months were an effective start to a campaign to steal Apple’s mojo. Between that and Verizon’s highly effective “map” ads, Apple and AT&T may face serious buzz lossage.
Those droid spots were pretty shocking as well, given the rumored dissolution of the iPhone/ATT alliance and its expansion to the Verizon network in 2010. Guess that’s off the table now, which can only hurt Apple, IMHO.
That said, they may only need to pull out another “New Soul” spot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E98Eyl5Et0w) to leave us feeling warm and fuzzy again.
Hi, Liz. Hope all’s well.
Apple’s products are good, and their marketing, inspired.
But Apple has never been able to dominate their market place.
Now, here comes Google. A lot of money, a lot of innovation, a lot marketing savvy, a lot of patience, and a more open approach to third-party developments.
They may not succeed, but I certainly wouldn’t be betting that Google will fail.
My feeling is that Apple could never dominate their market place because of the boutique nature of their marketing. While they have nice products, and cool ads, in the end, if I wanted to use the Verizon network, it wasn’t available to me. IIRC, this was the same marketing strategy that led IBM to corner the PC market place with MS-DOS and Intel inside when they made their technology ubiquitous computer while Apple went the proprietary route. People still love the Apple products, but which technology has the market share?
Exactly my point.
There was also the little bit about orphaning every product after 6-10 months and asking the consumer to cough up another $1.5K – $3K for the latest and greatest.
Jobs is good at innovation, and fantastic at shooting himself in the foot.
But he just loves the cult of personality that he has wrapped around himself.