Prick Your Tooth, Trim Your Beard- Get Set Go!!!

So, the much hyped iPhone-5 is out!! Samsung says the next big thing is already here. HTC and Nokia are trying hard to lobby for their share of smart phone market. Android and iOS are competing for the top slot while Microsoft is trying to test its fortunes. App Developers are busy developing apps for all these Mobile Operating Systems. Mobile devices are getting more powerful than ever (Samsung’s S III is more powerful than my laptop). The latest benchmark scores say Apple’s iPhone 5 beats Samsung’s SIII by a difference of 40 points. ‘Wow’, Apple lived upto the promise, the analysts say.

The blogs, news, the TV ads, social media are fanatically filling up their space with all the comparisons of SIII vs Nokia vs. HTC vs. iPhone in order to provide the user with the most comprehensive analysis of which phone is the best. Self proclaimed (many I find) Tech-Analysts have gone to the extent of comparing processors in those mobiles. These mobiles are being crammed with dual cores and even quad cores. Intel, a late entrant into mobile processors started a branding war through its once highly successful ‘Intel Inside’ campaign refusing to be under the hoods of consumer brands. After all, mobiles are the next big thing they say (assuming no disruptive technologies will enter market).

There are currently 27 million smartphone users in India and are growing at an impressive rate says a Nielsen survey.  Now let us take a look at what our users do with their smartphones according to a Google Survey.

77% -listen to music                              30 % - read a book               33%- play video game

48%- use internet on another device   36%- watch movies              1%-none of these

Now, let us take a look at some specifications of one of the smash hit android phones of the year-Samsung Galaxy SIII

Operating System:                        Android ICS

Primary Camera:                           8 Megapixel

Secondary Camera:                      1.9 Megapixel

Connectivity & Internet:               GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA upto 21 Mbps, Wifi

RAM:                                             1 GB

Number of Cores:                          4 (Exynos processor)

This smartphone has a lot to boast indeed. It has indeed the best of processing capabilities, an excellent front camera to make video calls, 21 Mbps HSDPA. These features can make any mobile lover go ‘wow’..Right!!?? The blogs are filled with which is the king of smartphones?  iPhone or Samsung and Indian users engage in a soft online war with words touting iPhone users as a flock of sheep and iPhone users touting Android users as poor guys who cannot afford an iPhone.

At this point, I always remember a wise man saying ‘consumer is an ass, successful companies make him a jackass’ and I have no regrets when I support him.  

Perplexed!!!!?

Let me explain…… A report by Akamai, an internet content delivery based firm, affirms that the average 3G speed in India is just 0.9 Mbps. This puts India at 112th position only a bit higher than Libya, Nigeria, Nepal and Iran- the last in the list. So, essentially no video calls will be supported by the networks and 1.9 Megapixel camera or for that matter a front camera too will only be an ornamentation to the phone. Not many apps make complete utilization of the 4 cores present in the phone. Not many understand that it is the user experience that should matter and the basic purpose for which the phone is bought should be fulfilled and selection of the phone which can perform all these functions should be the criterion.

Constantly trapped by the Consumer brands marketing, the customers buy phones that carry features that add no value often at an expensive price. Very few know and even fewer can actually utilize the raw computing power these phones can provide. The existing infrastructure in India does not necessitate the use of the so called power phones.

Now here comes the most essential part of promotion: how to make consumers buy what they do not need. One thing that amazed me a lot is the effective utilization of social media to promote their brands. What is so amazing? One may ask! Any firm uses social media as a lead weapon in its arsenal these days. Here comes the most striking observation, companies are only starting a chain reaction. It is the consumers who battle for the brands. Take it this way, Nokia(or any brand) releases a picture of it’s phone’s features comparing it with other brands. Exactly here starts all the hullabaloo! One can watch atleast 200 comments in just 2 minutes of the pic posted. If we look at how the algorithm for Facebook, the more the number of users comment or like, more the publicity it gets.  Interesting isn’t it??- Consumers promoting something they don’t really need to satisfy their ego. Flaunting and defending phones that they do not know how to use. This way the mobile manufacturers created a set of unpaid trusted users who defend their brands. Hope they are aware of this phenomenon. This trend did not yet start off in many other products.  Sales depend so much on these debates online although I do not have statistics to support my view.

But for now in India, until Indian networks support the ultra speeds that these smartphones can offer which can easily take another 5-7 years to catch up with international standards and the apps which can utilize the raw computing power, use your smartphone for other than texting, calling, internet, watching movies etc., which every other user in India with a smartphone can do. Think out of the box. Think smarter. Cut your Grey hair, Prick Pimples, Prick your tooth, Trim your beard. GET SET GO!!!!