I’ll start with a gentle warning. If you’re not into golf – and if you have neither the time nor inclination to get into it any time soon – the rest of this might not be for you.
For the rest of you, bear with me while I try to convince you that golf clubs are like mobile computing devices.
Do you notice any similarities between the decisions you make regarding what clubs to put in your golf bag, and what portable phones and computing devices you carry in your case or handbag? No? Really?
Have you ever stood over your little white ball, 80 yards from the flag, with an inviting sand trap lurking between you and the yellow flag? In those circumstances have you ever thought to yourself – I wish I owned one of those gap wedges? My pitching wedge, with its 45 degree loft, is just too much club, and my sand wedge, with 55 degrees, isn’t quite enough. Right at that moment have you thought – if only I had a gap wedge with the perfect 50 degree loft. Or maybe, like me, you usually don’t give it a moment’s thought – just take out whatever club is closest to hand and hack the thing 20 yards into the bushes on the right?
Have you ever stood on a train station platform, or perhaps waiting for a taxi somewhere, and thought - I need to send a few quick emails or check out Facebook. But my Nokia N96, with its 2.8 inch screen is too small, and my Apple iPad with its 9.7 inch screen, is just too big. Ah yes – the Goldilocks conundrum! Right at that moment have you thought – what I really need here is one of those new Samsung Galaxy Tab things with its perfect 7 inch screen. Yes indeed, what I need right now is the gap wedge of the mobile computing world.
Using a pitching wedge from 80 yards is like holding an iPad up to your ear to make a VoIP phone call – you know you can make it work, but deep down you also know there’s a better tool to get the job done.
Are you seeing the similarities yet? Ok I’ll admit there is one really big difference between why golfers choose clubs and why ordinary folk choose new phones and mobile computers. The golfer selects a club to do precisely one thing, and to do it better than any other club in the bag. If he/she buys a new club it’s in the certain knowledge that new club will complement, and not compete with, the other clubs in the bag. It doesn’t matter that they all look the same.
But it’s different with phones and computers. They all do more or less the same thing (if you’ll forgive the gross over-simplification) and they cannibalize the hell out of each other. Hey – but at least they don’t all look the same, right?
The way I see it is that in golf, carrying more clubs – each of which allows you to do something slightly different – will improve your game. In life, carrying more phones and computers – each of which does the same thing – will improve your image (well, you think it will, and that’s all that really matters). But does it improve your game? Think about that the next time you’re salivating over one of those shiny new devices in your local phone store.
I feel another blog post coming on. Something about hybrid irons and co-axial cable.
SOURCE