“Apple’s trajectory with exclusivity reflects a very smart and elaborate plan which helped make the iPhone the success it is today, and now that exclusive carrier deals are ending, Apple stands ready to reap the rewards it has sown.,” Darrell Etherington writes for GigaOM.
“Carriers no longer need convincing that Apple’s model can be lucrative for them, even if it does mediate their relationship with customers to some extent. Apple doesn’t need to make concessions to negotiate with carriers anymore; if anything, the reverse is true,” Etherington writes. “Also, the illusion of scarcity is no longer necessary to make Apple’s products appealing in the eyes of buyers; even after more than a year since introduction, the iPhone 4 is the highest selling Apple smartphone in the U.S. and iPhone owners are the most likely to stay with their handset maker more of any smartphone buyers.
Etherington writes, “On the flip side, ending exclusivity across most major markets opens up Apple’s business to a huge number of new potential customers… The staged ending of exclusivity also means that Apple effectively gets a brand new launch every few years. An iPhone might note be totally new anymore, but it is new to a network’s subscribers if an exclusivity deal was previously been in place on a competing network… In the end, we all benefit from Apple’s approach to exclusivity. Consumers get a pure iPhone experience, mostly unadulterated by carrier demands, software and restrictions. Apple gets more control over its product, and a staged global rollout of its handset that keeps momentum rolling in its favor. Carriers, too, benefit.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Edward Weber” for the heads up.]