Why being a tech "fan" is strangling the industry

What kind of car do you drive? A Ford? Toyota? Hyundai? Great - that must mean you hate and detest Aston Martin and Ferrari, right? How about your favourite food - Steak, or maybe Pizza? Wonderful - so you clearly abhor curry or tacos. No?

Of course not. While there may be some who coincidentally align to the above statements, the principle underneath it is absurd. Just because you chose to drive a car from Manufacturer X doesn't mean every other manufacturer's vehicles are earth-shatteringly bad. Just because you get your groceries from supermarket Y doesn't mean every other competitor is an evil cabal trying to poison the planet. We just have our preferences, or in some cases, the results of our random past purchasing choices.

So why do we treat tech so differently?

You've probably witnessed the scene countless times - two colleagues or friends arguing over which smartphone platform is best. "Ah, man, you're still on iOS? You've got to switch to Android - you can customise everything under the sun! It's so much better - iOS is garbage!", "Are you kidding? Using Android is like trying to teach a 2 year old how to service a car - iOS just lets things work, it's so friendly and powerful! Android is terrible!". Maybe it's not smartphones - maybe it's whether Mac or PC is better (until the guy in the corner throws his fedora in the ring and explains GNU/Linux is the best choice). Recently we've even seen cloud services treated in the same way - full-blown arguments over whether someone should be using Microsoft 365 or the G-Suite of applications... whatever the tech competition, there is always one running theme - whichever platform you've chosen, the other is supposedly absolute trash.

Arguing about which platform or product is best is good - it's what draws out insights into what's important to us as users - and we can even agree exaggeration of some type is to be expected in any debate. It seems, however, the debates are taking on the rhetoric and stylings of something altogether different - we argue about our technology like we do our sports teams. Next time you hear people debating iPhone vs. Android, or Windows vs macOS, just imagine substituting in Red Sox vs. Yankees, or Man U vs. Arsenal, and it's shocking how transitive the experience becomes.

So how does this damage the industry?

Arguing the merits or demerits of a product or service is a good thing, it's not inherently bad. However, posing those points as a fan is very, very bad indeed. By the very definition of the words, a fan or supporter of a sports team or competitive club sticks with them and provides support through thick or thin, rain or shine. If your team gets relegated, you don't go and choose a new team to support back up in the top leagues - you grumble about it to your friends until they get back on form. That's a great thing for sports teams, but terrifying when applied to consumer products and the technology industry.

Think of your friends and colleagues - you can probably picture at least one who is a steadfast advocate for one specific smartphone vendor. Maybe they're an Apple fan, or an Android aficionado - we all know a few of them. No matter what the competition brings out, they will always find a way to explain it's the worst idea since someone said "Let's allow this suspiciously large wooden horse into troy"*. They'll explain they'll "Wait until we get it next year, it'll be even better then". Right now, one side of that "smartphone war" could release a phone that dispenses free ingots of 24k gold from where the headphone jack used to be, and there would still be fans from the other side explaining "No, that's awful, who wants that?! It doesn't even let you play Vicious Hippos 3!".

Therein lies the problem - and trust me when I say this, having worked around this industry for some time - manufacturers know this is the case. Walk into any marketing department of a large tech firm, and their customer base is segmented by how many customers are "double or triple locked". These are individuals the company has pushed towards becoming so engaged and attached to one specific product or platform that it would take a miracle to tear them away. Some of this is technical - "Oh, all my photos are in iCloud, moving to Android would be a nightmare", but most of this is pure marketing and commercial push. And the reason is very, very simple - the more a customer base becomes "locked in", the less investment and effort is required to generate revenue.

Picture those same friends or individuals above, and now imagine them ten years down the line - and you can guarantee those same people will still be upgrading in the same product family they've always been a part of - blind to or ignoring whatever benefits or improvements may be out there with the competitors.

In short, sticking with a product family because "That's the company I'm a fan of" means that company doesn't need to be competitive, innovative or adaptive any more.

What can we do as individuals to avoid this?

We're reaching a point where as consumers and as individuals it's critical for us to take a responsible attitude towards choosing the products and services we buy. There's an ethical component - one which we're hopefully all aware of (the choice of moving away from organisations which act in negative ways, such as harming the environment or exploiting child labour). But there's another, more subtle element at play - choosing our products and services from the idea of sustainable capitalism. This means not allowing ourselves to be suckered into that argument of "I chose product X, you chose product Y, therefore your choice is atrocious", or following a brand even if it's not providing you with what you need.

So, to change this direction, there are a few things we can all start to remember:

1. Be objective, not comparatively subjective. Just because one thing is good doesn't mean all other options must be bad: right now, you're spoilt for choice in terms of technology; for the average consumer, getting any of the recent, modern smartphones will give you a stellar experience - whether iOS, Android, or something else.
2. Look over the fence with pride, not envy. Imagine you see someone with a phone that can cast holograms, like R2D2 did for Princess Leia. Running away and posting "Oh, it's awful, what a bad product because it's on Android, I'm going to stick to my iPhone thank you very much" is going to make manufacturers think "Hmm, maybe that's not a feature people actually want then". Running away and posting "Man that's awesome - I hope Apple does that too" gives the opposite message. Shout about what you want to see, not how "they did it therefore it's bad".
3. Remember you're the one that matters. This is the one fact no business wants you to remember. Adverts give you imperative calls to action like "BUY NOW" for a reason. Always remember that it's your investment and your choice that matters, not whether you're fashionably in one camp or another. If a manufacturer is going stale and not bringing you the features you want or need, then move away from them - take your money elsewhere. The more people who do this, and decide to vote with their feet, the more manufacturers will be forced to be competitive and innovative.

So, how about you? Do you think "fandom" in technology is stifling innovation, or does it provide a solid foundation to build a community on? Have you witnessed any funny tech "debates" amongst friends recently? I'd love to know - post your views in the comments!

* - Yes, okay, five bonus points for Gryffindor if you spotted the Blackadder quote, you geek.