Many phones have tried to compete with Apple’s iPhone but very few have been successful, Blackberry being one of them. It makes sense, I have an iPhone and I would always pick an iPhone… or would I? iPhones seem to have dominated the smartphone market and have become difficult to compete with, but will this change with the release of Google’s Pixel phone? We’ll have to wait and see.

The Pixel and the iPhone have many points of parity, such as “Google Assistant” which – on and iPhone – would be known as “Siri,” and “Google Duo” which would be known as “FaceTime.” However, it also has many points of difference which gives it a competitive advantage in the market. The Pixel offers unlimited storage for photos and videos, a problem many people experience when owning an iPhone (I know I do); allows you to video call to other devices, such as Android and IOS; and has the “highest rated camera on a smart phone. Ever” (Google). Google is making the Pixel phone similar to the iPhone because that is what everyone is used to, but making it different enough to try and persuade consumers to try something new.

In Yugaant’s blog post he mentions that one of the reasons that Blackberry’s success diminished was because they weren’t keeping up with all of the technological advances that other companies were making to their phones, and I agree. If Blackberry had improved their phones and expanded their applications I believe they could have remained a strong competitor in the market, but instead the Pixel phone did what Blackberry didn’t and is taking their place.

Now maybe I do want to try out the Pixel phone but I’m hesitant because all of my information is already on iPhone-compatible technology, well Google has a solution. They have created a Quick Switch Adaptor which connects an iPhone directly to the Pixel phone t0 allow for the direct transfer of information. Google minimized the switching cost from an iPhone to their Pixel phone by providing an easy solution to a big problem in the hopes that it will persuade consumers to buy their phone.

The question is: will Google be successful in their efforts, or will they come crashing down as Blackberry did? Google is innovative with their manufacturing and creative with their marketing; they built a phone that resembles an iPhone and are trying to convince people that it’s better than one. This is something that Blackberry failed to do and they suffered the consequences. The next time your iPhone breaks or has a problem, Google just might have done enough to change you from thinking “time to get another iPhone” to “let’s try out the Pixel instead.”

 

Word Count: 450

Bibliography:

• “Iphone”. Apple (CA). N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. http://www.apple.com/ca/iphone/

• “Made By Google”. Made by Google. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. https://madeby.google.com/phone/

• “Ahuja, Yugaant. “Yugaant | Just Another UBC Blogs Site”. Blogs.ubc.ca. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. https://blogs.ubc.ca/yugaantahuja/

• “Software is the new Blackberry”. Blackberry (CA). N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Oct. 2016. http://ca.blackberry.com/home.html