iphone | @pmarca Says

The Great Under-Appreciated Miracle of the iPhone

May 7, 2014 / Sarah Gooding / 2 Comments

The great under-appreciated miracle of the iPhone — couldn’t make a reliable phone call for approximately 3 years, yet it was a glorious success anyway!

Question: To what extent was that the origin of the current phenomenon of users abandoning voice calls in favor of texting + social networks? The ultimate rope-a-dope marketing strategy. “Aha, you thought you were buying a phone? Guess again!!”

Could that rope-a-dope marketing strategy work in other fields? Video games? Cars? Banking? Health insurance?

Source: Tweets – 1,2,3,4,5

Responses:

@pmarca I would say that phone calls were on the decline before, my friends and I would text each other much more often even pre-iPhone.

— Sayonara Baby! (@myTOsportslife) May 7, 2014

@pmarca It hastened the decline of relying on voice comms, bc it made texting/email/social so much easier & accessible. Voice less relevant.

— Blair Reeves (@BlairReeves) May 7, 2014

@erikb But I bet most customers, if polled up front, said wouldn't tolerate a mobile phone in 2007+ that continuously dropped calls.

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) May 7, 2014

@newholla Yes, but in that case, you are left massively disappointed. In the case I am asking about, you are left positively surprised.

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) May 7, 2014