What Factors Contributed to the Success of Apple's iPhone?

Abstract

Unknown to most North American consumers, a mobile data and Internet service in Japan called i-mode has been highly successful in that country for the past decade. Unfortunately, mobile data services in North America have lagged behind many European and Asian countries. However, the situation changed rapidly with the iPhone, launched in the US in June 2007. Consumers lined up for days for the chance to purchase one, and over 500, 000 units sold on the first weekend. Since that time, over 42 million iPhones have been sold, arguably making it one of the most successful mobile phone products ever launched. What is it that makes the iPhone such a success? In this paper we define a set of success criteria to investigate the success of the iPhone and propose a comprehensive success model. The success model can be used by both academics and practitioners to understand the reasons why, and ways to ensure that mobile data and commerce services become successful.