Every time Research in Motion announces an upcoming Blackberry phone with a new dramatic design, I sigh. I’m beginning to have the same reaction with i-phone announcements as well.
Why? May I quote Mugatu from Zoolander: “Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigre? They’re the same face! Doesn’t anybody notice this? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”
In case anyone needs further evidence, see the pictures below. With rare exceptions (Storm, Flip-phone, Skinny version), it’s the same thing. This highlights that when a company earns enough market share, they simply attempt to tweak and repackage the same old product rather than come out with major innovations. I mean, do we really believe that apple just barely developed the ability to “cut-and-paste” or use video?
Blackberry Phones vs. Zoolander Calendar
Last 3 posts by Eric B.
- Nassim Taleb on the Economy - June 25th, 2010
- Full Circle - May 3rd, 2010
- The Dark Side :) - April 5th, 2010
I have to say, look how ghetto those old ones look like. They have come a ways on the blackberry.
“This highlights that when a company earns enough market share, they simply attempt to tweak and repackage the same old product rather than come out with major innovations.”
It’s the innovator’s dilemma (great book by the way).
Pretty funny that Apple had copy and paste working on their Newton PDA 15 years ago!
I was talking to the former CEO of Franklin Quest in 1999 - right when the Palm 1 came out. A lot of the people I worked with were getting them, and he advised them not to because he had already seen the working versions with cameras and phones (Franklin stores carried Palm products). Palm was just planning on rolling them out each year to make people buy the newest version each time.
Zoolander is great. Excellent comparison. “Merman, dad! Merman!”