Apple recently launched their iPhone 4S and critics will tell you it’s the most disappointing announcement ever made by Apple, yet if you follow the news you will notice how quick it’s selling out, current users of iPhone 4 and new users are flooding their networks for upgrades, new contracts and also those who preordered from Apple’s website even though the prices might not be justified.
So what makes Apple special? this question I’ve been asking over and over and after studying how Apple work here’s what I think:
– They build anticipation using every tool they can, from bloggers, to codes left in beta software, lost product in a bar, call it PR and Marketing
– They spend a lot of time researching new ideas and they don’t waste time in picking the ones they think is innovative
– User experience is key, if they can build a piece of hardware that basically gets the users hooked, then bingo!
– They have developers on their side, they make it easy for developers to want to develop for their platform whilst adhering to strict rules.
– Every product they bring out has something new, something upgraded from the previous that makes the previous one inferior, take for example, once you have bought the iPhone 4, you can easily fall into the trap of iPhone 4S is faster therefore I must upgrade to the faster one.
– One thing you can never deny is product quality, it lasts long, holds its value and after care is brilliant so you are rest assured you won’t have to speak to some automated line to fix you phone.
When they released the iPad 2, it had camera, it was thinner, faster but wait they also showed the world the smart cover, the innovation that can’t be done to the iPad 1, leaving iPad one owners feel like they are well out of date and need to upgrade what they have even though it functions same way and they might never take any pictures or make face-time calls using their iPad, but that doesn’t matter, the way they presented it, market it, show you that it just works is just enough to make the sale.
If other manufacturers can do the same instead of bashing their products with high specifications that most users doesn’t know why they need it, they might actually sell too. If other manufacturers become innovative instead of sticking to one function (Blackberry Messenger and push emails) they can also move with time and show they are not just made of one thing. Companies like HTC receive numerous complaints that goes as far as featuring on watchdog and most are not dealt with appropriately because they haven’t spent the extras on making sure after care is five star, after all it is the current users that will tell others how great their products are.
There are many other reasons why they stand out but those are the once that stands out to me, what do you think makes them stand out?
