Smartphone successes not just consumer-driven

[Arthur]

Of course techie-savvy / geek users pick their tech according to their preferences. But they make up a small fraction of buyers.

The great bulk of buyers get what the shop/network sales staff punt, and what they punt is not based on the salesgirl's prefs but on corporate policy. The handset vendors know that, which is why they focus on the "influence points".

This article in the inimitable El Reg goes some way in exposing what really goes on behind the scenes and market hype.

Could this be the largest hurdle Nokia faces in upping penetration, why Apple and Samsung are entrenched?

 

[McCrazieGoalz]

Of course techie-savvy / geek users pick their tech according to their preferences. But they make up a small fraction of buyers.

The great bulk of buyers get what the shop/network sales staff punt, and what they punt is not based on the salesgirl's prefs but on corporate policy. The handset vendors know that, which is why they focus on the "influence points".

This article in the inimitable El Reg goes some way in exposing what really goes on behind the scenes and market hype.

Could this be the largest hurdle Nokia faces in upping penetration, why Apple and Samsung are entrenched?

It could be true that such deals are the reasons why smaller OEMs are failing to penetrate markets. However, with the demand for iPhones seemingly waning, a fall out between retailers and Apple seems imminent.

The reason why Apple could strike such deals is because of the meteoric rise of the popularity of iPhones. But, the danger in such rises is that the quicker you rise the quicker you can fall too. The meteoric rise was also fueled by such deals meaning an artificial popularity.

At some point retailers will start locking out any Apple contracts because the deals that were once profitable are no so profitable anymore as OEMs like Nokia start gaining traction as they are catching up with the new hand held device paradigm. Russian retailers are one prime example - where Apple's iPhones are generally being avoided as preference shifts towards Nokia products.

 

[alatheia]

My iPhone experience and the hostility from its followers here on MyBB makes me wonder why people choose insecure, unreliable platforms over WP8 and BBOS.