4 ms·

I remain surprised that such niches don't get filled. Apple is weird, but what percentage of the market does the 100th most popular Android phone capture?

• camillomiller 8y ago
  I don't, considering the amount of resources needed to concieve, develop and market even the smallest peripheral at a company like Apple. Plus (although it might be less so nowadays due to their size) Apple still has a culture of saying "no" to a lot of things that "could" make sense. Some chinese companies that tend to throw shit at the wall to see what sticks are better positioned to do that, but chances are that you'll get a subpar product you won't probably like using, let alone buy in the first place. Last but not least, the existence of a niche of consumers is no direct indication that such niche will actually buy the product they think they want. This is why a lot of startups fail despite the fact their product should theoretically sell like hot cakes.
• Arnt 8y ago
  I think this niche doesn't get filled because of the gap between what you want and what you buy. The gap between what you (ought to) want and that which makes a good first impression on you. I have, use and like a small android phone called "unihertz jelly pro", small enough to fit in any pocket and good for my use. After a while with that phone, using a phablet one evening was an absolute eureka moment. I was looking for some sort of product, and on the phablet all the photos looked good. Inviting. Desirable. The whole phablet was fun in a way the small phone wasn't. After that experience, I can understand that people reach for the big phones in the shop, even if some of them may really want something different in the long term. And I can understand why retailers stock the phones they do. The phone where instagram looks good is the phone with the right first impression, and one has to optimise for getting the goods out the door. (http://rant.gulbrandsen.priv.no/unihertz http://rant.gulbrandsen.priv.no/unihertz has blah about how I tweaked the phone, if anyone cares.)
  • iguy 8y ago
    Yea this is true, call it sexual selection? Also, even if a smart car would be more convenient for almost everything you do, it won't work for some weekend trips, so you buy something bigger -- there's a bit of that going on too, I think.
  • adetrest 8y ago
    How ironic is it that unihertz's website looks so bad on a smartphone (one with a larger display at that). Their design isn't optimized for mobile at all.
  • peteri 8y ago
    Definitely tempted to give one a try, screen resolution might drive me a bit nuts though. The Lumia 640 I'm currently using is starting to show it's age these days. To be honest, I'm finding most phones very underwhelming these days.
    • Arnt 8y ago
      If you fear that... don't buy one. It's a nice phone to have in your pocket with the screen off, so you can run instant-message apps, can phone your ex or optionally other people, can run 2FA apps, and so on and so forth. It's not a nice phone if you want to have the screen on. Unobtrusive and within reach: Yes. Use very much: No.