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Column: A kind of magic Let's take a look at the mobile phone sector. Nokia is the undisputed market leader in the first half of 2009, with 26 per cent of the sector revenue. With the iPhone, Apple generated just under 8 per cent, but pocketed 25 per cent of the total sector profit, even more than Nokia. Other competitors, Sony Ericsson and Motorola, have even resorted to selling their mobile phones at a loss to shift them. So is it magic? The so-called i-Phone cult factor? Is Steve Jobs a magician?
 

Magic spells use very prosaic ingredients: Apple consistently builds on what customers want. The iPhone focuses on key functions, not on whatever is technically possible. In an extremely technophile industry, it captivates with its user friendliness. To compare, take the competitor product from Nokia, billed as the "most high-performance mobile computer there is". The mobile has everything, and I mean absolutely everything, that is technically possible. But there's just one thing the Finnish engineers forgot: the customers. Without a degree in computer science, they can barely make sense of the technical sophistication.
 

Take surfing the Internet for example. It's now possible with any decent mobile phone, but only five per cent of people actually do it. Even so, one third of BlackBerry users connects to the web. Among iPhone owners, however, almost 100% surf the Internet - and transmit sixty times more data than other mobile phone owners.
 

Are iPhone users technofreaks? Not at all. The percentage of older users is striking. They are discovering just how simple mobile Internet can be.  With an iPhone you don't need to press any buttons or click on any convoluted sub-menus. With a single stroke you can turn pages, enlarge images, access photo albums, maps and music playlists. The device reacts to every movement of your finger, as if you were a mini magician with the whole world in your jacket pocket.
 

Is that what the customer wanted? A customer could never have dreamed up something like that. Only someone extra special like Steve Jobs could have come up with that one. The secret of his success is as easy to say as it is difficult to actually do: You shouldn't address customers' obvious needs, but rather tease out their secret longings and stir their hidden dreams. Enchanted customers will pay any price. They'll feel indulged, not merely served.
 

Why don't all providers do the same? Presumably they don't have dreams. Business people who don't dream are bad business people. They don't understand their customers. Customers are a mixed bag of longings. They want to be able to perform magic.

Ludwig Hasler