Fuelling Smartphone Wars
Hate them or love them, it is hard not to acknowledge their presence in influencing our lives.
Smartphones are our primary means of interaction and communication with the rest of the world. And the platforms that power these innovative objects are just as important. It is clear that without the OS, a piece of computing hardware is nothing but a weirdly shaped piece of semiconductor technology.
As the biggest competitors in mobile platforms, Android and iOS have created a new chapter in the fiercest rivalries of the world. It joins the ranks of Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s macOS, Ferrari and Lamborghini, Louis Vuitton and Gucci among so many such others.
As such, each OS gives most of the basic features to its users. Even in the aesthetics arena, they appear different only to a small extent. Still, this debate of which among them is better doesn’t seem to have a conclusion. Since there seems to be no winner, each side ridicules the other in a baseless manner. Even in 2019, the YouTube comment sections and Reddit threads are evidence of the crass war that exists right under our noses.
This article will be exploring the reasons people feel the need to fight over things as trivial as these.
Let us get nostalgic for a moment. If you are like most of us, you would have grown up with Windows installed on a monotonous, beige-coloured, desktop setup that crashed quite often, and had a monstrous interface. Even then, when asked about our preference, we always say Windows. We are quite used to its ways, the shortcuts it employs and its other cheat codes. This is not including the fact that Windows PCs have been catching up to the Mac in the areas of aesthetics, design and now even with the content creators — Mac’s niche market. Mac users experience the same things too. If users were made to interchange, there would be a huge learning curve for them both. However, if need be, neither of them would be opposed to working on the other’s platform. After all, both platforms are the best in their fields.
The above instance validates a primal aspect of the human psyche. Unless forced, there is a tendency to remain within one’s comfort zones. It becomes even more apparent in the technology sector and in economics, this is termed as inertia.
When the iPhone was first launched, it was an innovative product that had great software. It was years ahead of its competition. Thus, it was the platform to which most of the consumers gravitated to. The others were forced to stick to Android even though it was inferior. That was the situation from the last decade.
Today, Android is the largest mobile platform. Yet, iOS users don’t feel the need to transition to Android. Even if an iOS user was given the best Android flagship of today for free, he would still be found reaching for his trusty old iPhone for the features unique to iOS. This is again similar to those on Android. They cannot live without the unique features that Android and iOS offer them.
Now imagine this: The car you’ve dreamed of for quite some time is in your possession. You are taking it out for a spin to show to your friends. However, on seeing the car they express a strong dislike and go as far as to insult it. This is the ridiculous part.
The insults that were hurled at your car hurt you a lot more than normal. It feels the same way when they make fun of some personal issue (say a third nipple, like Chandler’s).
So you begin to argue vigorously with them about something as silly as someone insulting your car. A car. An inanimate object. That trivial thing is the cause of the current strife between you and your friend.
And the argument you have is not something of the ordinary kind. You argue quite passionately about the matter just to convince your friend that the car is quite good.
This is just an example. It can be anything a person is passionate about. A sports team or club, clothes, your profession and so on.
The same thing happens with smartphones and their brands. A smartphone is an intimate object in one’s life. It has gone to such an extent that people cannot imagine life without their smartphone. They have wormed their way into our personal spaces. The personal attachment to the smartphone makes us believe that the company that made them is like family to us too. This is what inspires brand loyalty. So, when a user of one platform insults the other, it becomes personal, and a slug-fest is born. The rivalries between Android and iOS is one among the many that have been inspired this way.
The other important factor that affects rivalry is pride. The pride that makes us feel diminutive in front of those more affluent than us. This plays out very interestingly with the price of smartphones. Consider the smartphone markets in the USA where an ultra-premium phone costs around or above $1000 while a consumer has a budget of around $500 — $600. People want the best hardware for the amount of money they are willing to pay. It becomes obvious that these devices are priced well over the general budget. So when some brands offer the same flagship hardware at ridiculously low prices, the users flock to that and try to diminish the value of smartphones sold at the excruciatingly high prices. This is where the rivalries get out of hand, the irrationality of the arguments take over and the insults start getting personal.
The pride one has in oneself is by far the most aggravating quality that initiates smartphone rivalries, platform rivalries, brand rivalries and all the other such rivalries. The reasoning behind the arguments is overlooked and the purpose behind the competition is lost — progress of the technology as a whole.
One must understand the purpose of competition — the enhancement of the rate of innovation in a particular commodity and the benefit to consumers of the product. The latest example of this is the PC processor race between AMD and Intel which has exploded back to life because of AMD’s innovative technological achievements and marketing strategies. However, by losing track of its intended purpose, it can lead to stagnation, like in the case of the telecom industry in India until the introduction of Reliance Jio.
Competition is the single most important variable in human technological innovation and evolution. Without competition, the market would not be as consumer-friendly as it is today. However, too much of anything is not good and so is the same case with the competition. If too many players exist in the same space, only a few will succeed while others will have no resources to pursue the customers. This will lead to stagnation in the market and cause the market to become more profitable and corporate-oriented.
To sustain competition among the existing contestants, the user base needs to put aside the irrationality in their arguments and acknowledge the advantages of the other platform over theirs. The absence of this recognition from either side could result in the obsolescence of the platforms and advancements will be stopped in the bud. This has happened many times and continues to be a threat to consumers across all industries.
Competition is like the proverbial surgical knife. It can be progressive and lead to a highly evolved society or it can be regressive. The choice to use it wisely is in our hands. We must tread carefully.
