[natrius]

There is absolutely no confusion when people talk about the commoditization of phone hardware. No one is saying phones will become coffee. You can get pretty much any combination of features from any vendor.

Feel free to be frustrated by imprecise usage of technical terms.

[ergo98]

It isn't just imprecise -- it's completely the opposite of reality.

It's as logical as saying food is a commodity item because ultimately you eat food. Or cars are a commodity item because you use them to drive from a to b. Only an utter moron would use it in such a context.

[reeses]

Food is pretty much the archetype for commodities. Not because "you eat food," but because it doesn't really matter where your apricots, rice, or baby mice[1] come from. You'll buy the one that is either freshest or least expensive, and rarely focus on the provider unless it happens to have an advantage that relates to those two criteria.

[1] What, you don't like three screams?

[natrius]

Ok, the car comparison is good. I agree now that phones can't really be a commodity.

I still think it's okay to refer to decreasing differentiation in a market as "commoditization". People understand what's being said, and there's no other concise way to say it.