Why not to buy an iPhone 3G

Tomi Ahonen has a long post asking: what's the big deal with the new iPhone? And points out that with the low (subsidized) price, the iPhone has switched market segments -- and Apple is not ready for the switch.

Now Apple abandons that strategy of premium pricing. It jumps into the fray of the mid-field. Partly the iPhone exclusivity will be lost when everybody has it (or can afford it). Partly the cool factor disappears when iPhones are on every table. Partly the very fickle nature of the customer tastes in the industry will bite back at Apple. They cannot wait 12 months for a new model (from year to year into the future) if they intend to take on mid-market Nokia, Samsung, LG and SonyEricsson model ranges - who release models every month, Nokia releases new models almost every week. I've said before, that it advanced markets the replacement cycle among young employed adults is 6 months - two new phones every year - such as in Japan, South Korea, and here in Hong Kong for example - so if the iPhone does not evolve and improve - it will soon suffer as a mid-field phone model. At the top luxury end, you can wait, but not in this crowded mid-field.

He reminds us that the US is the "backwater" of the mobile industry and that the iPhone is missing some of the basic features of European and Japanese phones. He also doesn't think RIM has anything to worry about.
Communities Dominate Brands: Apple iPhone 3G, what gives - great price but still..

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