We all enjoy convincing our peers that our gadgets/toys/business communication devices are better than theirs. Betamax vs. VHS, IE vs. Netscape, PC vs. Mac, IPAQ vs. Palm and so on.
A surprising number of people are nowadays arguing the BlackBerry – iPhone debate, and if you step aside from the bulging-eyed fanatics of each, it’s actually quite interesting to watch them battled it out.
First of all, not surprisingly, they all believe that their own device is the better one.
Secondly, none (or very few) of them have actually owned the other device. They’ve usually just picked up a friend’s and sneered at it for a minute or two.
Thirdly, they are all completely blind to the failings of their own device. Objectivity goes out of the window.
Fourthly, they are wasting their time trying to convert the other person. It isn’t going to happen, and they know it.
As an owner of a BlackBerry Bold, I of course know that my device is far better than any iPhone toy.
If you’re smiling and nodding your head, you have a BlackBerry, probably within a metre of you right now.
If you’re shaking your head, then you either have an iPhone or you think the whole debate is absurd. Probably because you have a BlackBerry and know I’m right.
The question you should ask yourself is whether I’m qualified to tell you which is the better device.
I’ve been using various BlackBerry devices for a few years, and have used an iToy iPhone for about five minutes. So of course I’m not qualified to tell you which is better.
But if I had owned an iPhone for a year and then ditched it for a BlackBerry, wouldn’t my opinion carry a little more weight?
Many software company websites use a table that compares their product with those of their competition.
The table usually comes in one of two flavours:
(1) A long list of features, with your product ticking each and every box. Your competition are noticeably less represented.
(2) A more cunning approach whereby your product has some empty spots. These are from your product missing features such as “slow and time consuming data importing” and “additional add-ons required”.
Assuming your product really is better, comparing your product with your competition is a good idea. Visitors to this page want to know why yours is better.
But if you really want to make the page work, you need details, and you need third-parties.
The more specific an advantage you can present to your potential customer, the better.
If Competing Product A takes 30 minutes to import 5,000 entries, and your product takes less than a minute, this will impress the visitor.
If Competing Product B takes 2 hours to crunch through the data and spit out a report, and your product takes 15 minutes, this will really impress the visitor.
Better still, if you have testimonials from users who switched from your competition to your product, this is the time and place to use them.
Match it up with a competitive discount, and you can almost hear them reaching for their credit cards.
Oh and the BlackBerry does use cut, copy and paste, is better for entering text and is the better device.
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