And 52 different version numbers. Support must be a nightmare, if it even exists outside of just "we'll give you next week's version".
These must be pretty minor changes if they're happening every week. How many of them are being passed through rigorous QA? I'm curious how many of the batches are just tossed due to a small error?
And man, would it suck to order a phone and then have it be obsolete within a couple of days of having it be delivered.
[1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57540705-37/apples-fiscal-...
Regarding rapid obsolescence, this seems to work very well in Asian markets. They typically release a far greater number of devices, because there is a strong market for second hand phones, and many people like to keep switching to the latest thing.
This is the mass market he's referring to, not the folks who're spending $600-800 on the latest iPhones or Galaxy Notes.
Still, makes me feel positively ancient given I used my Nexus One for nearly 3 years before moving to the Nexus 4.
Just because they refresh their line of phones in batches of 100,000 on a weekly basis does _not_ imply that each change takes only a week to implement. Changes probably land when they're done, like the Linux kernel, no?
More competition is a good thing. Different ways of doing things is good - let's wish them well.
Considering the fact they managed to created that market in three years, I'd say it's quite a big deal.
I hope their hardware iteration doesn't end up the same way.
I'm curious what they change but web searches just return the same three sound bites.
I'm curious what they change but web searches just return the same three sound bites.
On a different note, would this cause buyers to be less happy, knowing that there will be a better product in a week? Along the same lines as The Paradox of Choice[1]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradox_of_Choice:_Why_More...
My current Android phone (Galaxy Nexus) is almost two years old and my current iPhone is a 4S (running iOS 7). I will soon be upgrading both, but I can't really see myself changing devices more of then than that. It's a convenience and cost issue. Even if you make the data transition seamless and remove the cost barrier, you are still left with limit of how often people will want to change their routine.
Needless to say, the comparisons like this are meaningless, because Apple is much more than a fancy set of hardware. iOS 7 update made my iPhone 4S camera feel like a brand new piece of hardware, when all I did was update the software...
I've found that Chinese phones are very good quality and exceptionally great price. Not only phones, but I've also found that Android tablets are priced literally at 'throw away' prices.
For example, I just priced a 1.2GHz quad core android tablet running Android 4.2, 512MB ram, 4GB storage, with SIM slot, for $64. 1
I also bought a phone from China. It's a quad 1.4 GHz, 1G ram, 16G storage, 2 sim slots.. It's crazy fast, the size of a Galaxy Mega, and was $200. So yes, if you do choose to buy from China, you cut out the likes of the Wal-Marts and Best Buys. Instead, you can buy directly from the manufacturer and pay 1/2 what you would normally pay. And with some of these prices, they are approaching technology that I don't hurt much if I lose.
Now, please be aware, if you buy a Clone phone from China, you'll likely get ripped off. They are made intentionally to defraud and deceive. They do that to the poor saps whom buy them, as well as the people whom they pawn them to. And their components are usually pretty bad. If you stick with the obvious Chinese phones, you'll be much safer in the long run. Those are bought by the Chinese, whom see cheap as a bad thing. (Of course, the Chinese swoon after Samsungs and iPhones anyways...)
1 : http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Cheap-RK76-7-TFT-Touch-Screen... Unsure if reputable dealer, low sales numbers. Beware. Find at least 1000 sales.
They do have designers and program managers whose job is to decide which submitted ideas should be implemented and which should be discarded (and I'm sure a majority is discarded).
In fact, listening to your users (as compared to just doing things you think are good) is the basic idea of Lean Startup and other agile methodologies.
You're not supposed to put users in a driver's seat but you are supposed to listen to their feedback.
Apple's weakness is that they don't listen to users (or at least I don't know of a channel where my feedback would be likely to catch Apple's PM attention). I understand the challenge of trying to listen to users at Apple's scale and they're extraordinarily successful regardless, but it doesn't mean that you can't get meaningful feedback and meaningful ideas from your user base. Xiaomi is a proof that it's possible.
So, no, your equation is not true, neither is the reverse.
Specs: http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_3-5678.php
Design: http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_3-pictures-5678.php
Imagine IF Apple just made one iPhone in different color each week. Then imagine if Apple tweaked the internals each and every week. They’d be supporting at least 52 different versions of iPhone every year.
The weekly “design, build, redesign and build” process should not replace a thoughtful R&D process.
Etsy (http://codeascraft.com/2011/02/04/how-does-etsy-manage-devel...) and just about any web dev shop disagrees with you.
There's nothing different about hardware.
In fact there's a story about a guy who build human-powered airplane not by planning harder but by increasing the frequency of iterations (http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663488/wanna-solve-impossible-p...).
This is exactly the idea behind Xiaomi's hardware and software efforts: improve faster by learning faster from more frequent iterations. Apple can only learn if their stuff works every year. Xiaomi can learn something every week.
Also, it's not as if other companies ship exactly the same hardware throughout the lifecycle of a product. New suppliers are added, parts that have been identified as a return driver are reworked, and even major mid-life changes (consider the slim versions of each PlayStation as an example) happen as a matter of course.
Hardware? Not the case. It is not practical to keep changing hardware when the production is larger than what Xiaomi is currently delivering.
It sounds very interesting to innovate hardware at that pace... and why not. Taking input from the users with such a fast turnaround is awesome too.
That was like the 5th slide in the original launch presentation.
If you have change hardware to offer users an incremental feature, you're not really competing with the iPhone.
If you fab the PCBs yourself and pick and place the components yourself, you could make an electronics change in one day as long as you get the design right the first time and you had ordered the components in advance.
Changing the case shape would be harder to do fast, but could still happen in just 2-3 weeks if you have your tool-making and injection molding both in-house.
The reason anything takes longer for most companies is due to outsourcing, with all of its communications delays and shipping delays.
I think comparing them to Apple on the basis of sold phones in China is justified.
Looking into my crystal ball, I further think that their strategy is so brilliant and their execution is so good that we're witnessing the rise of a new giant.
Give it 5 years and they'll be in the same league as Apple and Samsung on a world-wide basis, not just in China.
