Comments on: An iPhone Arms-Race to Nowhere

By: Evan Selleck

Evan Selleck — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:05:22 +0000

That was a great comment Neil,

While I’d love to get into an obviously great conversation about evolution, the Red Queen Effect, and how it relates to the rest of the world from animals to humans, we’ll have to focus on the iPhone for now. In which case, I would have to say, that I agree with you wholeheartedly.

When the iPhone came on the scene, no one knew what to expect. And then when it blew up as it did, with everyone clamoring to get one, I think all of the major players were struck hard. They realized that user experience goes a long way. In fact, in this day and age (thanks primarily to the iPhone), it’s paramount when running a mobile phone. Compared to Windows Mobile (even 6.1), the iPhone is like a children’s picture book, while the former is a novel from Tolstoy.

Whether or not someone is a fan of the iPhone, or Apple, or even Steve Jobs is irrelevant at this point. Because if you’re a WinMo, webOS, Symbian, Maemo, or Android fan, you inevitably owe the evolutionary pace of the phone you hold in your hand to Apple. They made it possible, in the time frame it has happened.

By: Neil2112

Neil2112 — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 07:37:54 +0000

You’re absolutely right Evan. I wonder though, how was it even possible for an outsider like Apple to so ‘easily’ beat the big guys at their own game? Mr Colligan is no fool, so how was Jobs able to appear to overtake them from standstill (as it were) when Palm et al had been running all this time? Do you even remember what we had before the iPhone? I have to think hard.
I’ve watched the iPhone keynote 10 times at least. Nobody had the slightest clue what to expect, and the entrenched players were made to look like dinosaurs.

Discussion of The Red Queen Effect and its parallels within the fields you mentioned are interesting. I particularly enjoy it simply because the parallel *must* (but never can) account for the fact that in technology the process of change is a product of perspicacious design and skillful engineering whereas in nature it’s accepted as being utterly random.

Also interesting is that in every instance that I’ve seen, species are depicted as changing in tandem, each to outdo the other. That’s dandy, but they’re never shown as changing from one species to another. In the Red Queen models, dogs remain dogs and foxes remain foxes.
This raises innumerable questions. Where did the massive diversity come from? How does a mammal turn into a bird? How on earth does a fully functioning tear duct just evolve?? If all creatures change to keep up why do so many appear to be static when their ancestors are found in supposedly much older strata?

Anyway. With the iPhone, I think Apple has devised an ecosystem so clever and human that nobody (not even Redmond) can match it. The Foxes are all running, but the Hare is leading the chase.

Great article Evan. Thanks.

By: Evan Selleck

Evan Selleck — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:09:54 +0000

The concept of the article is your second point, just elaborated. While I emphasize that the physical aesthetics of a device can’t be held to account for the full capacity of a phone, or its capabilities. Secondly, the article shows that Apple is the definitive piece in the mobile market at this point, and that all other manufacturers, even the “big ones”, are doing their best to not only emulate the iPhone, but defeat it.

As for the use of the theory of evolution, it’s not that broad. The Red Queen Effect is a focused aspect of it, and a concept that is used in technology, business, and even media all the time.

By: Neil2112

Neil2112 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:45:20 +0000

It’s interesting Evan equates the development of the iPhone to the theory of evolution for two unrelated reasons.
Firstly, the development of the iPhone was deliberately orchestrated, it didn’t just poof into existence out of irradiated warm mud. The phone was purposefully conceived and designed. Numerous complex components, next to useless on their own, are brought together to form a functioning unit. If even one minute part of the hardware or software were not perfectly designed the phone would be a brick.
It’s a work of genius, and Apple should be given due credit.

Next, Apple came out of absolutely nowhere to make a game-changing product that made everything else look clunky.
Customer satisfaction ratings for it are head and shoulders above entrenched players like Nokia and the like. Blab all you like here, the verdict is in. More people love their iPhone than users of any competing product.
Ed Colligan, Palm’s then CEO, dismissed Apple’s iPhone; “We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not just going to walk in.”

Well, they did and it took you two years to copy it.