The future of the iPhone – Will success lead to failure?

The iPhone is popular, very popular in fact. Apple sold over 1 million phones in just the first weekend of the phones release (iPhone 3GS). Apple has sold roughly 15 million iPhones to date, including first gen, 3G, and 3GS phones. And sure at least 2 or 3 of those phones have been blended by Mr. Dickinson, but still it’s enough in sales to bring Apple up to nearly 10% market share in the smart phone segment. All that in only 2 years, that’s really moving, just imagine where apple will be in another 2 years. Some analysts predict market share of 33% by some time in 2011. All of this makes Apple’s measly 7.5% share in the computer sector seem Lilliputian in comparison. And that got me thinking, aren’t Apple’s supposed to be exclusive? Isn’t that why they charge such an exorbitant price for their products?
I thought the whole appeal of Apple products is that their different…unique…and some how just better than any other computer out there, in an innocent but slightly snobby way. You don’t have to be a computer guru to know what I’m talking about either, look at those commercials on TV and tell me that Justin something or other fellow doesn’t come across as smug. Take a trip to your local Apple store and count the number of piercings if you’re bored one day. I always loose track some where around 30. Every employee has blue hair, extra tight jeans, and those silly looking converse sneakers with the black and white chess board pattern. They all act very relaxed and say “hey man” a lot. Basically their unique and proud of it.
I don’t think these people would be too happy if everywhere they went people had colored hair, silly sneakers, and uncomfortable jeans. And it’s the same story with Mac’s. Mac users like to see one or two Mac’s a day, like their part of secret society, not thousands everywhere they turn. They want a Ferrari, not a Camery. And I’m afraid the iPhone has become a Camery, when the phone can be had for $100, without having to wait a week online, or jump through blazing rings of fire, then it’s no longer exclusive.
The real challenge for Apple will be to make the phone exciting without being rare. To make every customer feel like they’re special even when they’re not. I have an iPhone, and I’m proud not to have a boring blackberry. But I don’t have green hair and I don’t try to fit pencils through my earlobes, so naturally I don’t own a Mac. Can the iPhone remain in the vanguard even with a distinctly average following? Only time will tell?