Peter Sichel: ‘When Market Share Is Used to Mislead’

Peter Sichel:

Many reviewers don’t even realize what the product is. They still believe the iPhone or iPad is mostly a hardware product defined by its specifications. Apple has invested 10 times more R&D resources to create the iOS software and supporting eco system than its hardware. Apple didn’t design the hardware to match some feature checklist, they designed it to make their software amaze and delight customers, to create an emotional connection that effects peoples lives. To compare the iPhone or iPad to other products primarily on their hardware specifications is not representative of the quality of experience users are likely to have with the product.

I suspect most people will read the above and either think that it correctly describes everything that’s wrong with the rest of the industry, or, that Sichel exemplifies everything that’s wrong with Apple users and developers. There’s no middle ground here.

Tuesday, 11 October 2011