User Preferences- Smartphone and mobile Internet user
preferences in the US are some of the most important
success factors of iPhone. Funk [24] indicated the need for
increased capabilities of mobile phones to allow for both
reach and richness of content, as US consumers expect
richness due to their experience with fixed line Internet.
User preferences also factor in the provision of content, as
consumers in the US may be unwilling to pay for content
since they are used to getting it for free [25]. US consumers
are not convinced that they need mobile services that they
think are too complicated [26], showing the need to ‘uncomplicate’ the mobile Internet experience. A 2004 MIT
survey showing US consumers rate the cell phone as the
most hated invention that they cannot live without, with
30% or respondents indicating this [27]. Clearly, mobile
Internet user preferences in the US are strong, and perhaps
difficult to fulfill. While the American Internet experience
may not be the norm for other nations [28], it does strongly
affect US user preferences for mobile Internet. “People in
the US can be just as enthusiastic about mobilizing
technology, but they often think in terms of shrinking and
mobilizing the PC and Internet, rather than growing the
cellphone” [29]. Thus, much of the success of the iPhone
can be attributed to its ‘uncomplicated’ yet effective ability
to replicate much of the computer (in terms of applications)
and fixed-line rich Internet experience (through the Safari
browser) on the mobile phone. In essence, the iPhone may
be the device that Michael Mace referred to in 2006 [29]
when he discussed shrinking the PC and Internet to a mobile
phone. With respect to specific iPhone user preferences,
prior to launch of iPhone 3G a survey was completed to
ascertain which features iPhone users wanted to be added.
The top 5 responses were 3G capability (19%), 3rd party
software (18%), GPS (15%), e-mail integration (10%) and
voice recognition (8%) [30]. All of these capabilities were
added when the iPhone 3G launched in July 2008, either by
Apple (3G, applications, GPS, e-mail) or 3rd party software
developers (applications, voice recognition). Clearly, Apple
is responding to user preferences and needs with successive
generations of the iPhone.