Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s dominant position in the smartphone market is under threat. And this was clearly visible at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. You could see thousands of people using their smartphones, but few of them were really iPhone users. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.(ADR) (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) dominated the CES this year.
Android’s advantage over Apple
Jim Edwards of Business Insider says that he witnessed some alarming facts that reflect the future of iPhones. For example, a Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) employee was using an iPhone and a Galaxy S4. The iPhone was only for personal use, while the Galaxy S4 was his business tool. A large number of people coming to CES are considered early adopters. And there are business executives who have to choose their mobile platforms wisely.
Most of the people using Android smartphones rather than iPhones at the event should worry Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). A large Android smartphone has a unique business advantage. Exhibitors and business executives have to write a lot of texts and emails. Doing that on a bigger Android screen is much easier and convenient than typing emails on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s small screens. Though Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s revolutionized the smartphone industry, its screens are still not big enough to do plenty of typing. You make a lot of typos and errors on a small screen.
Some of the Apple features annoy business executives
Another annoying feature of the iPhone is that it hates cookies. Business executives who use Google Calendar have to log in again and again simply because the iPhone doesn’t support cookies. Therefore, some wildly popular Google Inc. apps that rely on cookies to remember who you are can’t identify you quickly. CES is a big event, and mostly indoors. So, it precisely tests a smartphone’s camera capabilities such as distance, and taking pictures in low light conditions. When Jim compared the shots taken with the Galaxy Note 3 with those of the iPhone 5 in such conditions, he found that his iPhone was far inferior.
History shows that small screen devices lose the battle. Initially, there were Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) (HEL:NOK1V)’s feature phones and BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s smartphones with QWERTY keyboard. Then Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) launched the iPhone, which had bigger screens compared to others at the time. It won the battle. Business users need to type a lot. And today, the iPhone screen seems tiny compared to most of the Android smartphones. Typing on the tiny screen of the iPhone is an unpleasant experience.
If Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) doesn’t unveil a big screen iPhone in 2014, it may risk becoming another BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB).
