It was looking at my iPhone that got me thinking, is the name of this device the biggest thing holding it back. Will Apple have to change the highly successful name one day to allow the “phone” to grow and to make consumers see this as more than a phone.
Yeah yeah, I know that might sound like a crazy statement. What is in a name? We all know how great this device is, I don’t need to “blah blah” on about it … so if you own one, can I ask do you just see this as your phone? or is it more than that?
The reason I ask this is because could the fact that the word ‘phone’ is in the title is the main reason some people find it hard to see it as anything more. We’ve all been mobile phone users for over a decade now at least, we’ve seen the evolution from crappy phones to mediocre phones to now phones that have a feature set similar to a personal computer.
There are people I know that are iPhone owners who often frustrate me with comments like ‘Oh I’m not paying $12.99 for that game, its just expensive‘ yet they will happily pay $59.00 for a similar game on another portable device like the Nintendo DS or PSP.
A game that I’ll use as an example is the (sort of) new racing game for the iPhone, Real Racing, developed by Melbourne based gaming company Firemint. This game that plays extremely well, has impressive graphics and that could easily be sold for five times the price on any stand alone portable gaming device is yours for the price of discounted b-grade Disney movie from JB Hifi. Yet … ‘this is to expensive’ for some.
The logic still baffles me, considering that with any iPhone game you’ve got the extra bonus that you’re able to purchase this game without leaving the house, have it with you anywhere you go without needing to take a cartridge or disc with you, receive updates and advancements to the game allowing the game to always stay ‘current’- yet it is still seen as a ‘questionable purchase’. This doesn’t even take into consideration the cheaper games that are a few dollars. Those few dollars some will happily throw to a busker on the street singing a terrible version of Cold Chisel’s – Khe Sanh, yet will take hours or days to think about spending that $2.49 on an app that developers spent weeks or months building so that you can use it anytime, anywhere as much as you like.
Does this mentality stem from our history with gaming on our phones? Are we still bitter about those terrible games we spent money on to play a crappy golf or Tetris game on our Nokia 6120 back in the early 2000′s? I know it’s hard to move on people, but I think we can now. I think we have to start seeing mobile games in a different light. It is no longer the fact that the games that are being developed are less than great and aren’t worth to be in the same price point as Nintendo DS or PSP games. Mr and Mrs iPhone consumer it is time we got that idea out of our subconscious – this is not just a phone that can play games.
The fact is, everybody that has an iPhone will always say “Oh this is more than a phone, its got my email, my IM clients, my web browser, it’s camera … etc” … so why can’t it be also classed as serious portable gaming device too? Something that is seen as an equal and the price of the games are seen as equal too. Now Im not saying that EVERY game is super amazing, there are a lot of shit games (and I’ve purchased my fair share) but with the App Store only being around for a year so far we are still in early days and within those early days there have been many amazing games released amongst the hundreds of less than average ones.
So if you’re reading this and you’re offended that Im calling you cheap for not wanting to a) pay for any apps or b) not pay for apps over a certain price, then perhaps the problem isn’t mine and you should really ask yourself – what is the iPhone. A phone? or something more?
How can this mentality ever change?
Does this mean that in 12 months time when Apple are (hopefully) to release a new version of the phone that we will see an entire new name? It is a logistical marketing nightmare that it seems Apple have backed themselves into. Unlike the iPod that was ambiguous with its naming it had the freedom to evolve through different phases, what started off as a music player, then turned into a video/music/photo/gaming device and then also eventually evolved into a touch screen device with a whole range of new features. All still known as being part of the iPod family. I think it is fair to say that to majority of the public out there, as it stands the iPhone will always be seen as simply a phone first and other devices second due to its name.
