The big problem of the industry: why all smartphones are the same

An industry emerging overnight from the imagination of a single man fails ten years later to overcome the moment. Almost all smartphones look the same, they perform the same functions, run similar applications. Where did innovation disappear in only ten years?

As a matter of fact, Steve Jobs was not the first runner of his kind. The man had relapsed the computer industry with Apple II and had opened the digital music era with the iPod. Although competing products were on the market, Steve Jobs had the vision to make them different, in a useful and enjoyable way, so people bought the products. The series of successes continued with the iPhone, then with the iPad, and the Apple Watch is said to have been planned by him as well.

Fast forward in 2017. Everyone makes phones, absolutely identical, both in shape and in substance. Yes, some choose curved edge design, others with straight edges. Some have a metallic phone, others are covered with glass. The screens can be 4 inches or 6 inches with 4K or 2K or Full HD resolution. The cameras can be dual, not that they make a big difference, but somehow you have a different camera. Small new details appear year after year, small processor improvements, small software advances, new games and applications.

But, in essence, nothing changes. No one has the vision to generate a new product, a technology that changes usage. The big producers are waiting, watching to see what others are doing. If Samsung or Apple accidentally opens a new direction, immediately dozens of companies launch similar products. That's how it happened after the iPad launch. Everyone has made similar devices, similar screens, similar shapes, identical uses. Eventually the industry capped in a few years. After tablet sales were capped and manufacturers were looking for something else, it happened exactly the same.

They've discovered all the smart watches and have publicly announced that this is the direction of walking. At first, it really seemed that the world wanted a smart watch or intelligent bracelet, but the sales capped fast.

As soon as the smart clocks proved to be a failure, the manufacturers began to look for other directions. Apple analyzes smart machines, now seems to be limited to car software, although there is no clear decision. Samsung has bought Harmann Kardon for audio technology. LG tested modular phones. For now, none of the directions have caught. The only cars with autonomous technology are the electric ones from Tesla. But maybe the industry will develop over time.

Steve Jobs has managed to relaunch these industries in a concrete, irreversible way. IBM finally lost the computer battle.

Nokia lost the fight on mobile phones. Microsoft has also lost on the mobile area and the touch devices. Sony lost on the digital audio players, we can find examples on all the areas where Apple activates. And Steve Jobs had no resources either when he launched his first Apple computer or when he launched the iPod. He had just been called back to save Apple from bankruptcy when she thought of the iPod.

Today's IT giants have resources, they have the most skilled engineers in the labs, they have the courage to fail - some of them have launched products that they have not caught. But they lack one thing: Steve Jobs's intuition and vision of finding not just a different product, but how to do it differently to sell. They have no imagination.

Source: https://playtech.ro/2017/probleme-telefoane-toate-smartphone-urile-sunt-la-fel/