Apple vs RIM

Each and every individual has his/ her own specific needs and this is what makes them like/ dislike something. The same is true with mobile phones also. Look around you and you will find people vouching for one Mobile OS or the other, ranging from the good old symbians to the androids to the BBs and to the iOSes of the world. Each one will vouch for his/ her favorite choice, and how one outperforms the other. The fact of the matter is that its actually the needs of an individual that drives them into defining what is good or bad. For some maybe even the java phones are good enough while for others, even the Androids of the world have limited tweaking options.

Here I would like to cite an example of one of my office colleagues, who is currently using an IPhone 3Gs, gifted to her by her loving husband. Now everyone wi,l agree with me if I say that its one of the decent phones available in the market, but she isn't happy with it at all. Earlier she was using a nokia s40 phone and she is ready to go back to her old Nokia any given time, but for the sentumental values attached with the IPhone. She doesn't like the fact that the IPhone doesn't allow her to add pictures, songs, videos etc on her phone directly from her PC, without having to use the iTunes. Another woe of hers is that her data source is varied so she cannot connect to the iTunes at various PCs as the latest sync would overwrite the old ones. She is also missing out on being able to connect her phone in the "mass storage media" mode with her PC and dump anything and everything inside.

Another important aspect is peer pressure. Most of my team members have a BB and we have a very active BB Group going on, which we use for information sharing (read Gossip), so this female feels she is loosing out on this by not having a BB handset.

These weird(?) reasons have driven her towards giving up her IPhone and buying a BB handset.

The point I am trying to make over here is that launching a product with the latest technological advancements is not the only parameter for its sales. The mobile companies need to give heed to other factors like existing customer base, peer pressure etc. While deciding upon the needs of their targeted customer segments.