Smart phone – is it really smart?

“Smart phones are meant for the people who are smart enough to upgrade & utilize the device,not for the dumb people who wants to use the phone as a style statement/Trendy device….” – comment left on pluggd.in

As a mobile enthusiast, we all tend to believe that smartphone users are really smart as us. Smart phone users ‘actually’ know what a widget/app is and how to install/use widgets and other apps in the mobile.

Case in point – whenever we have talked about Nokia’s strategy (or the lack of it), a whole lot of Nokia fanboys have tried to put forth their smart logic by putting themselves, i.e. developer in the shoes of the end user.

For instance:

“the N900 is an enthusiast device..the N900 is more of a mini-computer converted to a phone, rather than a phone with “smart” capabilities. As such, the average Indian consumer (read: 95% of the market) would not be interested in the N900. Seriously… Show me ten people who wouldn’t mind using their phone ONLY in Landscape mode. Please. And don’t tell me you didn’t know that the N900 uses Portrait mode ONLY for calls, and Landscape mode for everything else? Also, it’s Linux-based. Definitely more of an enthusiast/developer-oriented handset.”- comment

“you can do more with a nokia phone than iPhone….

#1 Install PcSuite/Ovi in your PC or Upgrade your phone from the phone itself….
#2 Goto Ovi stores…. Install apps & Games… Most of the apps are free…
#3 Even if u r not satisfied develop ur own apps….” – comment

“The N8 isnt for the iPhone crowd. Anyone with an unbiased view would have realised that by now. Heck it isnt even a flagship device, so I do not understand why people like you think that every phone Nokia launches is to “combat an iPhone”.

The N8 is more for the convergence crowd. People like me, who’d like to take decent pictures, great video and still be able to “do it all” just with one device. A better term for it, in this regard, would be an “Imaging Flagship” device, i’ll give you that.” -

Ask a ‘typical’ smartphone user what a landscape mode is? Ask Nokia whether N900 is ‘actually’ meant to be an enthusiast device (can they justify the price then)?
Who are the Smartphone users?

As far as India is concerned, a typical businessman who loves to showoff his new toy to friends/business partners (and be the center of attraction) and ofcourse, a few ‘self-actualized’ geeks who love to play with new toys.

What’s the mix, as far as sales is concerned? i.e. geeks vs. businessmen who buy a smartphone? 10:90? 20:80? 80:20?

The segment that drives the max amount of smartphone sales?

Needless to say, it’s the less-actualized ones who are influenced with TV/print ads and wanna grab the toy before anybody else.

A whole lot of geeks do not get the fact that smartphone users aren’t so smart enough to use the features of the phone (they don’t even care about it, just the way a lot of us use trendy phones just for calls/smses only).

Smartphone users do not care so much about the widgets/apps – unless you make apps an integral part of the mobile experience, which is what Apple has done and Nokia has failed to.

So next time you get into this debate, first roam around places like Ahmedabad, Panipat, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai etc – meet few smartphone owners and ask them if they have heard of something called as ’mobile application‘.

Till then, stop assuming yourself as the end customer.

Note to Nokia Fanboys: Lately we have built a love-hate relationship, but leaving aside that, look beyond yourself. Unlike iPhone app developers (who are also consumers), Nokia fans have a different customer segment – so understand that, before you inculcate blind fanboyism.