Phone wars

When I was young, living in South Africa, my parents and their friends fell into 3 factions. You had your Mercedes-Benz fans, then you had your BMW fans, and the third group that chose Japanese, American and British cars. I remember how they spent nights arguing about durability, specifications and second hand value. Even after all these years, my parents will only be happy when I buy a Mercedes.

Today it seems we have the same situation when it comes to smart phones. You have your BBM-ers on the one side, your i-phone application junkies and your Android fans on the other side. Everywhere we see how people are trying to convince the others about how wonderful their phone is. When you have a Blackberry, you are always convinced that BBM is the best thing in the world, and people with i-phones tell you that they use Whatsup. The i-phone junkies will tell you about the wonderful interaction between their phones, i-pad and i-pod.

We live in a world with so many choices. When cellphones came out in our country, almost everybody had those Nokia brick phones. It was huge and impractical, but you could phone, receive calls and SMS. It was a wonderful time and everybody thought it was amazing.

When we have limited choices, it is never necessary for you to convince anybody about anything, but when we have choices and make them, we feel obliged to convince other people about those choices. It is a given that we want to tell people why we do things, and also try to convince them to buy things that we bought. That is probably where the idea of “word of mouth marketing” comes from.

In every industry, cellphones included, people start publishing magazines and articles that compare and make suggestions to those who do not have the necessary knowledge on the subject. This phone is faster than that phone, this one has problems and so on. It is necessary for us as laymen to have this type of information for us to make an informed decision. But it can also be confusing, that I might decide to wait, rather than upgrade, because of my uncertainty.

Every day of our lives we are bombarded, not only when it comes to cellphones, but relationships, work, education of our kids, exercise programs, diets, religion, restaurants, holidays, friends, insurance policies, investments and self growth.

Clever people sit around all over the world and think up new specifications for every thing around us. Specifications that they think will give them the edge over competitors, and to make us buy their product, rather than that of the competitor. Because of this, the moment you choose your phone and upgrade, there is already a new model on its way, and you are already “behind”.

The strange thing is that ordinary people only use a fraction of the technology available on their phones. We wait and pay for things we think we might use, when it is not a necessity. A lot of the technology that we have might also have a negative effect on you. As with BBM, Whatsup and SMS’s, we don’t need to talk anymore, we text. And using the abbreviated communication method leads to a generation that can not spell.

Every day there is something new, and you can never be totally at the front of the pact when it comes to technology.
We live in a “confused” society. On every level we stand in a supermarket with so many ideas and options. Specifications that confuse us, things you understand and things you don’t, and many things you stress about that you will never use, but loose sleep over.

A couple of things we might learn in this confusing world from these cellphone wars:

There will always be different opinions, because people are different. It is part of being human, but just because my friend uses a Blackberry and I use a HTC, doesn’t have to change anything in our friendship. We can still phone each other and we can use Whatsup.

Differences and competition between people and products is a good thing, because it leads to innovation, thinking and something to strive for, and becoming better people. If everybody was the same, how boring life would have been.

Just because somebody is not on the same technology platform as my Blackberry, doesn’t mean that they are worse off than me. In the time after by Blackberry got stolen, I used my old Nokia, and my life didn’t end. I could still live, phone and take part in the rat-race. So in life, we never have to stand back in shame over my technology, knowledge, place in the world etc. In the same way I may never look down on anybody who is not at my “level”, or who don’t have what I have. Just because somebody can not BBM or Whatsup, I can still SMS the joke to them, or just tell the joke in person.

There is no phone or idea in the world that is the “ultimate”. Nobody has the final answer. Functionality and practicality at that specific moment, is the correct answer for me.

I should also be open to new ideas and technology. So many people still walk around with their brick-phone-ideas. No battery life at all, and I am unreachable. Look at the new opportunities around you, because the idea of new innovations is to make life easier and more enjoyable. Look at it, it is free, why not use it to your advantage? Be open to new ideas and new things. Nothing in life is constant, everything changes, and you might like the change that a new idea brings to your life.

Choose only what you can handle. So many phones out there have functions that we can not handle. We must also be careful not to open ourselves up to things that don’t work for us, that actually create more stress than enjoyment. I can have the fanciest phone, but if I do not know how to operate it, I will not even be able to make a call, and how does that help me?

There is also no phone available that can not break. They do have guarantees on them, but only for a limited time, and not forever. So we know that just because something exists today, it may not work until the end of time. Nothing is guaranteed. So you must be ready for new ideas and understand that what you know and think now, may not be true for ever. But, just because your ideas might become outdated, or break, it doesn’t mean that I should keep by phone in the packaging in a closet. Use what you have now and enjoy every minute. Nobody can see into the future, but just because the future is uncertain and might include breakage, use what you have today and phone. If I don’t use my phone today out of fear of breakage, it is already outdated and broken.

Somewhere, you have to make choices. Just because there are many phones on the market, and I am waiting for the “best” one, I will never have a phone. Sometimes I am guided by the package I am on, the one that I like the most, or the one that fits neatly in my hand, and not the specification level of the phone. You have to choose so that you can be part of life. Nobody can live without ever taking a stand, which makes you unreachable.


In the end, you have to enjoy the privilege to be in contact with other people. Enjoy your phone, and use it to capacity. Phone, BBM, Whatsup, Go onto the internet, download applications and games. Enjoy what you have without worrying and stressing about what you do not have available. It doesn’t matter which phone you have, don’t take it so serious, it is in the end just a phone or an idea. Go make the best of what you have, millions of people in the world are extremely happy, even if they don’t have an i-phone 4. Don’t wait for things to fall into place before you engage in life, before you take part in the wonderful conversations with people, irrespective what phone they have or who they are. Life is here and now, let your voice be heard, and also your laughter, irrespective if you have the ability to BBM.

Go live, go and laugh, go enjoy your day!