“Just because you can, does not mean you should.”
My fellow classmate Siddhant Gandotra captured Professor Stone’s words perfectly in his latest blog post, ‘Backwards Innovation.’
Sid talks about the removal of the headphone jack in Apple’s latest innovation, the iPhone7, and its subsequent impact on the future of the smartphone industry. He talks about his apprehensions with the future of the industry as a whole. With Apple being the market leader, many companies tend to pick up where they leave off in innovation, creating products with their own unique twist. However, it seems that Apple have taken this twist to a new level, making Sid fear what lies ahead.
Like Sid, I too have my inhibitions about the future of the smartphone industry. I do however believe that one company’s downfall is the pathway to another company’s rise. Companies like Samsung, HTC, LG and OnePlus are all competitors to Apple. Should Apple’s newest innovation fail, these companies may find themselves at the top of the technological industry. However, should these companies continue to do what they do, there will eventually come a time where no phones in the market will have headphone jacks.
It is high time that companies begin to deliver on what the market demands of them. Apple talk a big game and says that they are constantly innovating. However, all they seem to do is create a new phone each year – one which is bigger than the previous years’ ‘innovation.’ Samsung is no different. Some people are unable to tell their different models apart. Over a period of time, innovation seems to be just a marketing play for the bigger giants in the industry. On one hand, you have companies like OnePlus, putting blood sweat and tears into their innovation and only creating 2 phones in 5 years. Then there’s Apple and Samsung, creating multiple products in the same year, each not very different from the next.
Sid’s blog is a calling to all smartphone producers in the market. A calling that is telling them ‘not to be a Melania.’ The smartphone industry, currently with Apple at its throne, is at the verge of tipping. The market is demanding for a new leader, one who cares about the market. A leader who will give consumers what they want, at the reasonable prices that consumers are demanding. However, such a leader seems to still be hiding in the shadows of today’s giants.
To this new leader I say, in the words of Professor Stone,” Don’t be a Melania.” Take charge of what you’re good at, and deliver to us.
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