Forgetting the family

Microsoft’s recent partnership with Nokia got me thinking. My first thought was “why”? Why is Microsoft trying to dig into the smart phone market? In my mind it’s over. But I had to ask myself, why did I think it was over? I realized my cynicism had taken hold – this country is a two party system and how can you break that? Of course, I wasn’t thinking about the global market benefits of the deal between Nokia and Microsoft, which Tim Bajarin points out in the Slashgear article, “Why Nokia’s CEO Chose Microsoft." In my mind, the smart phone industry is a two party system. Any other players are just Ross Perot, Ron Paul, or Ralph Nadar. They might make you listen for awhile, but you won't actually vote for them. However, in the recent past, we were a near iPhone dictatorship and Android was able to spread some democracy into the smartphone body politic; how was Android able to do that?

Anyone trying to get votes in this industry has to remember the family. Maslow laid it out – a primary motivator for humans is the sense of belonging.

We want to belong.

Advertisers try to capture that family connectedness by producing smart phone commercials the show a dad emailing work, a mom using facebook, and grandma getting all excited and bright-eyed exclaiming, “Oh look! I can share pictures on my smart phone!"

But c'mon, all smart phones let you email, post to facebook, and share your pictures. They all "do" a lot of the same things. They all let you connect with your family. The question is, why do people still stand in line for hours to specifically buy the iPhone?

It’s all about the family of users, dummy.

It’s because everyone else has one. It’s because an iPhone user can speak the same language to another iPhone user. iPhone users can glance at a complete stranger across a restaurant table and give that knowing wink… “yeah, I love mine too, baby."

They belong to each other.

Step three on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is fulfilled. The iPhone user has a clear sense of belonging with other iPhone users.

So, Android made a dent in this market – how? Because it appealed to the family of rebels. They are hackers, unconventional, and don't want to play by the rules. They say to themselves, “you may go to the company retreat of iPhone, but I am going to the Hell’s Angels picnic of Android.”

It’s tougher for Android users to find their community because they have to take a closer look each other’s phones to see if they belong. They can be somewhat closeted, hiding their tattoos; but once they get a glimpse of that green rebel robot peeking out from underneath that shirt, they know. . .

“we belong to each other.”

So, Microsoft, I ask you what sense of community do you offer in this smart phone race? Who are the members of your family? Who will Microsoft Windows phone users belong to?

Building the best device, having the coolest app, or access to existing web content is not going to win the smart phone race… let’s face it, it’s whether using that device will fulfill that primal need of belonging to a family.