I think we would all agree that Apple has done very well with the iPhone, quickly propelling the device to become one of the most popular smartphones on the market today. There are a myriad of reasons why the iPhone has been so successful. Part of it has to do with the sleek design, but there are other smartphones with a similarly sleek appearance. Part of it has to do with the intuitive touchscreen interface, but there are other smartphones that have touchscreens too. A big part of it is clever marketing and product placement, but there is another element at play here.
Since the introduction of the product line in 2007, Apple has only released three variations on the iPhone. We had the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G last year, and the iPhone 3GS most recently. This keeps the product line relatively straightforward and simpler to understand for the end user. Nearly any customer can walk into a Fido or Rogers kiosk and simply ask for an iPhone. They have a general idea of what they want and they don’t have to fumble through the confusion of multiple model variations.
Contrast this to the experience that a customer may have when looking to select a BlackBerry. The BlackBerry smartphone line may be perfectly suitable for a range of customers and it could offer nearly all the same features that you can find on the iPhone, but the product line can be very confusing. Let’s say that you are interested in the BlackBerry Pearl. There are at least four versions of that smartphone, not including the Pearl Flip. Say that you want a BlackBerry Curve. Just like the Pearl, there are three versions in the 8300-series, as well as the newer 8900 and the upcoming 8500-series. The differences are relatively minor, but they’re there and they could be a source of confusion.
In developing your product line, you may want to consider taking Apple’s strategy and keeping the line as simple as possible. Here is product X and we are only offering product X for this kind of market. Alternatively, you can consider the conventional strategy of developing slightly modified versions to satisfy slightly different needs, but know that you will have to invest more time (and money) into consumer education so that they can understand these differences.
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