nov181983

Apple's Interesting Challenge with Its Best Buy Deal

I agree with your analysis in some ways; however, the iPhone is more than a luxury product. It is also a superior product that the competition hasn't been able to match. Many, if not most, people bought the RAZR for the 'cool' factor. The same can be said about iPods. The iPhone has more than good looks, it has a brain to match. That is why it will not suffer the same fate as the RAZR.

Apple is pushing this device as more than just a phone...it is the next computing platform. It, and devices like the iPhone, are what everyone will be using in the future. This is the mobile computer that people have been talking about for years. I've never understood why people think an 11" laptop is a mobile device. Something that is truly mobile needs to fit in your pocket, not in a bag on your shoulder.

They need to get as many people using the iPhone as possible so that they are ahead of the competition. The Best Buy deal will help them do that. Not to mention, many people using an iPhone will probably convert to the Mac platform, which happens to be sold in many Best Buy centers.

The halo effect was in many ways the point of the iPod, at least that became a nice bonus. With the iPhone, however, this isn't as important in the long term because people will not be using desktops, even laptops, the same way in the future. Mobile devices like the iPhone will be the second computer of choice for many people.