It's the track record that is really a huge barrier to entry now - cost/price be damned.
Scenario 1 - Upstart company A which is new to the market comes up with a new great hardware/software combo tablet or mobile PDA which kicks some serious ass. Few people may trust that they'll be 'able to make a go of it' because they're so small. Self-fulfilling prophecy, and that company may indeed have a hard go of it. They're unknown - why should anyone trust them.
Scenario B - the Androids and MS and other 'established' players. They've had a couple years to establish track records, and they stink. Unknown upgrade paths from various vendors - mobile phone companies selling 1.6 Android devices in mid 2010 with no plan to even attempt upgrades, but locking people in to 2 year contracts, for example. MS' Zune being dropped after a couple years, and the "PlaysForSure" debacle a couple years before that. Why trust any of these vendors with your data/apps/music/money when Apple has a much stronger track record of being around and offering decent backwards compatibility (compared to the competition)?
I honestly think people would really be willing to pay even more than Apple prices for devices if there was any hope of the company staying the course with their decisions and not dropping products lines 18 months in the future. People were lining up in droves to pay $699 for the original iPhone - no carrier subsidy - because of the track record Apple has at delivering a good experience. Honestly, really, I don't see anyone else in the CE/mobile space with that sort of loyalty any more. I also do remember people camping out at stores to get Windows 95 - MS did have that sort of cred at one point, but they've lost it and it'll take a lot of work to get it back.
Comments
It's the track record that is really a huge barrier to entry now - cost/price be damned.
Scenario 1 - Upstart company A which is new to the market comes up with a new great hardware/software combo tablet or mobile PDA which kicks some serious ass. Few people may trust that they'll be 'able to make a go of it' because they're so small. Self-fulfilling prophecy, and that company may indeed have a hard go of it. They're unknown - why should anyone trust them.
Scenario B - the Androids and MS and other 'established' players. They've had a couple years to establish track records, and they stink. Unknown upgrade paths from various vendors - mobile phone companies selling 1.6 Android devices in mid 2010 with no plan to even attempt upgrades, but locking people in to 2 year contracts, for example. MS' Zune being dropped after a couple years, and the "PlaysForSure" debacle a couple years before that. Why trust any of these vendors with your data/apps/music/money when Apple has a much stronger track record of being around and offering decent backwards compatibility (compared to the competition)?
I honestly think people would really be willing to pay even more than Apple prices for devices if there was any hope of the company staying the course with their decisions and not dropping products lines 18 months in the future. People were lining up in droves to pay $699 for the original iPhone - no carrier subsidy - because of the track record Apple has at delivering a good experience. Honestly, really, I don't see anyone else in the CE/mobile space with that sort of loyalty any more. I also do remember people camping out at stores to get Windows 95 - MS did have that sort of cred at one point, but they've lost it and it'll take a lot of work to get it back.