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Comment by systems | Hacker News Reader

I just have this observation ..

Apple makes only one mobile phone model, just one, all other mobile phone makers have several products lines and models of their mobile phones

Apple obviously is leading the way currently

As Designers, which do you think is the better approach, one model or many

My next phone will probably not be an iphone, probably an xperia mini

I personally think, we had a design wave here mutiple models -> single model -> multiple models

I mean, people went from wanting different things, to wanting the same thing, to back wanting different things

And I think this is how, sony, samsung and motorolla will start to eat into the iphone market share

Of course the other school of thought is, we only need one good model, mobile are more like TVs rather than Cars (all TVs nowadays look the same)

Which direction do you think will lead the way?

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Apple isn't leading the way if you're talking about mobile phone sales. They were leading a niche of the market. Last I saw, indications are that Samsung had even outsold Apple in the smartphone segment last quarter.

And if you think all TV's nowadays look the same I don't think you've seriously shopped for a TV. Yes, the overall shape is the same, but there's a wide variety of designs within the constraints of utility. By constraints of utility I mean that all TV's look similar because we all want a screen that is suitable for existing programming and that means mostly 16:9 format, and it is impractical to have a TV that protrudes in all kinds of directions beyond the screen itself, so the overall design is limited to a 16:9 screen plus a reasonably narrow frame. We also don't generally want bright colors because it is distracting.

It is similar for mobiles - it is limited by weight and size constraints tied to our desire to carry them in our pockets and hold them in our hands, while having a large displace.

TVs are different, because with a TV you don't really care about how it looks.

Phones on the other hand ARE also fashion gadgets.

For this reason alone, there are companies out there that are dressing normal phones in gold and precious stones. It's crazy, but it goes to show that customers do want to set themselves apart.

I've heard from salespeople that Samsung TVs are among the easiest to sell precisely because they look good and are thin. Maybe a bit more because of the latter, but that still counts as looks.

Obviously one's phone's is more important because it's with you all the time being shown off, but design matters for everything.

> TVs are different, because with a TV you don't really care about how it looks.

Eh? Where did you get this from?

Spend two minutes in any busy electronics shop anywhere, you'll hear people caring about how it looks because:

i) because they don't know how to compare the technical stuff

ii) it's going to stuck in their living room for the text five years

Apple is leading the way if you're talking about mobile phone sales in the sense of making money. The lead by a great margin in both revenue and profit.

Apple makes three presently, but I see your point.

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