Apple iPhone: It's Been Done Before

"It will never work!"

The battle cry of the naysayer is as recognizable now as it ever was, and Apple, to their credit, has had to deal with more than their fair share of skepticism. It is no different now with the iPhone.

Much has been made of how crowded the mobile phone industry is and will continue to be, and the point is well taken. There is no shortage of competition here. What is different about the iPhone is its manufacturer. Apple thrives in market categories where their only advantage is their vision.

The idea of the iPod had been done before. There were numerous "digital music" players before iPods, and there have been numerous since. Even prior to the digital music business, there were portable music players for compact discs and even cassettes. So what's the difference?

The difference is those players aren't iPods. The same advantages will accrue to the iPhone. Sure, you can find dozens of different mobile phones available with literally hundreds of thousands of different combinations of features and prices. Or, you can buy an iPhone. You can buy one of dozens of different computers, or you can buy a Mac. You can buy one of dozens of different music players or you can buy an iPod.

Apple has been applying this simple marketing message to every product they've ever made. It is quite possibly the most impressive feat of commercial judo ever. By introducing a product, Apple seems to instantly place all of their competition into the "but it isn't a..." category.

Now, they will have the opportunity to communicate this message to the mobile phone market, and there is no reason to believe it won't continue to be just as successful now as it was when the first Mac was introduced. The presentation made to introduce the iPhone was brilliant and it perfectly illustrated what makes the iPhone different.

First, the competition was presented. Each of these phones looked very complicated, and with all of them side by side they looked even more complicated than they probably are. It really looked as if there were 200 buttons between them: more than most computers.

Then there was the iPhone, with one button.

The point was made, and from there things just got better. The demonstration of Google Maps combined with the aerial views of cities was astounding, and it provided a very good illustration of just how powerful these technologies are and will become by virtue of having been freed from the desktop.

It remains to be seen how compelling the ability to watch movies on a phone will become, but building an iPod into the iPhone was pretty obvious. The mobile phone industry has been trying to get music on to phones since digital music became popular. Apple did it effortlessly. Of course, having the top-selling digital music player and digital music store helped a little.

It would have been so easy for the iPhone to become a "me too" product, but Apple doesn't follow very often, and if they do, they often overtake their competition in short order. One thing is for certain: A lot of iPhones are going to be sold this summer. That you can count on.