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Posted on February 2nd, 2012 by Tim Danton
Dear Sony, Samsung and every other tech company in the world: stop trying to be Apple
Given a choice, I can’t think of any technology company that wouldn’t like to have what Apple has. A proprietary system that ties people in every step of the way: the device in their pocket, on their desk, and pretty much all the content that sits within them.
But I’ve got terrible news for all those companies: there is only one Apple. Tempting as it may be to start up your own ecosystem of apps and content, you need something truly compelling to make people sign up to it in the same way that tens of millions of people have signed their lives away to Apple.
Apple customers sign up to a brand with values they believe in, to a name that they will be happy to associate themselves with.
For a start, you need trust. Apple customers sign up to a brand with values they believe in, to a name that they will be happy to associate themselves with. You also need staggering amounts of content: from apps to movies to TV shows to music, Apple has this sewn up.
You need sexiness: if I’m going to buy your phone, it needs to look damn good. Finally, you need phenomenal ease of use. If you have to spend a minute explaining what your service does, or how you connect to it using your devices, then you’ve lost three-quarters of your potential customers.
Like them or loathe them, no other company can match Apple in these areas.
So when I look back at CES, despite all the excellent technology on show, I do so with a mix of fear and despondency.
The issue is typified by the likes of Samsung and Sony. Both made big plays at CES that suggest they think they could be an all-encompassing rival to Apple, whether it’s Samsung talking about the fact you can play Angry Birds on their TVs or Sony pointing out that its customers can watch movies a month earlier on their movie-download service. Sorry Sony, sorry Samsung: but it’s not enough.
Instead, we need either open standards or a compelling play by a company that can work with different partners. Obvious examples of the latter are Microsoft and Google, but even this has hints of idealism: think how difficult Microsoft has found it to make anyone else sign up to services such as Passport.
Nevertheless, I can’t see any alternative. Sony and Samsung both produce great hardware, and Sony – through its subsidiaries such as Sony Entertainment – own some phenomenal content. But they are light years away from the position where a critical mass of consumers sign up to the Sony or Samsung ecosystem in the same way that Apple customers do.
So, please, stop trying and start working with Google, Microsoft and Amazon to ensure that the products we buy from you work with all the different content providers. Focus on what your company is good at, not what Apple is good at.
Tags: Android, apple, CES, CES 2012, samsung, sony
Posted in: Rant
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20 Responses to “ Dear Sony, Samsung and every other tech company in the world: stop trying to be Apple ”
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February 2nd, 2012 at 11:45 am
Very true, if those companies did actually manage to work together, then they could go far beyond what Apple can do. But each on their own are well below.
They also need to stop stepping on each others toes.
Personally I’m waiting for the day, for example, when I can buy a book and get a code so I can read it on any electronic device I want, i.e. via Amazon Kindle, or Google Books, Kobo, etc. Blinkbox and Tesco have already show that way makes sense.
February 2nd, 2012 at 7:36 pm
Quite so. Ever since VHS Vs Betamax manufacturers like Sony have wanted to hold the keys to consumers access to media.
Proprietary formats, such as Sony’s own memory stick that lock in the consumer are perceived as good for companies, open standards and interoperability good for the consumer.
This is often (and with cause) seen as an all-or-nothing strategy, make the market yours or loose out to the cheaper generic manufacturers.
Not that Sony are the only ones guilty of repeated attempts at world domination but one of the reasons I no longer own any Sony kit…
February 3rd, 2012 at 7:50 am
Sorry Tim, but people are doing things differently to Apple and are doing it better than them with the added bonus that it is cheaper.
The Android market is far better than it was previously and are going in the right direction, whereas Apple’s main goal appears to be slyly allowing flash instead of saying “Sorry we were very arrogant to try to force the whole of the internet to drop flash” and to drop legal actions on any rival they choose.
They can do this because Apple customers are paying far, far more for the product which then funds the endless legal actions that Apple bring in order to stop or delay any rival. It is shameful and arrogant tactics, something that Apple do very well and only too readily.
Should the title of your article not read “Dear Apple, stop trying to accuse everyone else of copying you”?
February 3rd, 2012 at 9:11 am
If they’d all stop suing each other it would be a start.
February 3rd, 2012 at 10:04 am
What Paul said. Double.
February 3rd, 2012 at 10:31 am
@John While I agree with some of your points, what you’re talking about is an entirely different article! But I’m not convinced that Apple’s main goal is to slyly allow Flash onto its devices…
February 3rd, 2012 at 10:32 am
@Paul and @nichomach0 Completely agree, but I’m also hoping for world peace. Not sure which will come first.
February 3rd, 2012 at 10:44 am
Will everyone stop getting sued!
February 3rd, 2012 at 11:31 am
“You need sexiness: if I’m going to buy your phone, it needs to look damn good.” – really? Is this really what people want today when buying a phone? Personally, all I want is that it makes calls when I need it to, sends/receives SMS, has a stable and usable OS and of course has Internet access. If it looks good then that’s just a bonus, but I’d prefer it to be 3 or 4mm fatter if it meant my battery life was 10% better.
As for the end of that paragraph regarding the loss of customers, this (plus the above) explains perfectly what’s wrong with the World today (with respect to consumers/attitudes) – people have no patience or inclination to LEARN. They are far happier to just be told what to think, what to buy or just follow others. A very, very sad state of affairs.
Not having a pop at you/your article by the way, I just needed to say that.
February 3rd, 2012 at 11:56 am
One thing the article touches on that other manufacturers should copy from Apple is ‘ease of use’. I dont own any Apple products but wish the products I do own had some of Apple’s ease of use and UI design. Ok so some are starting to catch up (Samsung?) but others are still behind.
February 3rd, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Every Ultrabook in the lastest issue of PC Pro is a copy of the MacBook Air.
February 3rd, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Open stds will be the only way to stop the dominance of Apple. But with open stds you need some controls.
Look at the way that Apple have the dominance is the control the application to the hardware, look at how many people have upgraded their ios compared to android, apple are able to upgrade the IOS to release products to their masses without having to use 3rd party’s.
I don’t agree about Apple stopping Flash on their handsets is a bad thing. First it forces developers to use an open std which is far better and a thinner (in network usage terms) then flash. Flash is horrible how many security patches are released for this product? enough said.
February 3rd, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Shouldn’t there be a banner at the top of the page that reads “ADVERTISEMENT”?
Another highly appropriate bit of content for “PC” Pro.
February 3rd, 2012 at 8:34 pm
Dear PcPro – Look at your features and reviews – maybe you should stop trying to be an Apple magazine, or change your name!
February 6th, 2012 at 6:37 am
I don’t know which is dumber, the clueless hyperbole of the speaker/author (nobody has “signed their lives away to Apple”) or the ignorant comments of some of the posters here. What is this, Ignoramus Magazine?
February 6th, 2012 at 7:16 am
@Toby I agree 100%. The world is becoming a very sad place.
@Paul O yep, I feel like calling all the major mobile manufacturers together in a single room and bashing their heads together, until they agree to play nice.
February 6th, 2012 at 11:39 am
Having moved from Apple to Android its annoying but not unexpected that I now can’t use any of the films or videos I got from iTunes, but that’s one off the reasons I switched as I don’t agree with the amount of lock down that apple apply to EVERYTHING, and if everyone works together the market would stagnate, also I personally love not having a clue what new nevices do and how to get round them, half the fun is throwing the manual out, the other half is trying to work out how to do things that would so obviously been in the aforementioned document!
February 6th, 2012 at 11:54 am
The only single company that can take on Apple is Amazon – the same concept of an eco-system, curated app store, music, video and books at a much lower cost. Just wish they’d get their fingers out and launch the Fire over here.
February 6th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
I really like my Apple gizmo’s. But what Apple needs is innovative competition that is DIFFERENT to Apple, not a series of emulations. If you want to beat the Fanbois, do something as good or better, but also make it distinctive. The Galaxy Tab looks like a nice Tablet, but I already have an iPad – why would I buy one?
Give me something I haven’t got, and I may go and buy it!
February 16th, 2012 at 9:03 am
What really needs to be done is a breakup of Apple seperating the hardware and software businesses so that Customers can can run Apple’s OS on other platforms thereby enabling much greater competion and ideas between Apple and Microsoft.