Why iPhones Dominate the Market, and It's Not About the Hardware

Why iPhones Dominate the Market, and It's Not About the Hardware
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

What would a competitor phone have to do to unseat the iPhone's hold right now? originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.

Answer by by Connie Guglielmo, Editor-in-Chief, CNET News, on Quora.

What would a competitor phone have to do to unseat the iPhone's hold right now? Remember, it's not just about the phone, aka the hardware. It's about -- though I hate to use this word -- the "ecosystem" around Apple. It's about getting vested in the Apple way of doing things, the Mac, the AppleWatch, apps, iTunes. That's one of the reasons Apple's made such a big push in recent years to boost the integration among its various devices. These things connect together so you can share data/info easily among them, start something on one device and pick up on another.

Shara Tibken and I touched on this in our feature when the new MacBook Pro came out: New MacBook Pro touches at why computers still matter for Apple We wrote: "So instead of worrying about one device supplanting another, Apple has focused on features like "Continuity," which makes it easier for different devices to talk to each other. With "Handoff," you can, for example, start writing an email on your iPad and finish it on your Mac. You can even take calls on your Mac and use Siri voice commands on your computer." So, other than not offering a rival phone that bursts into flames, you've got to convince iOS users that they're ready to jettison that ecosystem for Android or something else. And to do that, the competitive advantage needs to be really compelling not only in terms of features but services. Battery life alone won't win the day.

This question originally appeared on Quora. - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

More questions:

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot