iPhone 4.0, Steve Jobs and killer PR
July 18th, 2010 by Tim Greenhalgh
Hands up, who does not want an iPhone 4.0? No really, be straight. Thought so – and just about everyone else wants one too. They did before the Apple press conference on Friday – and they do – more – now.
Want to see marketing and PR on a roll? Just watch Steve Jobs hitting the stage at 10 am Cupertino time. His audience? The financial analysts. He wooed them with absolutely the right messages at the right time and place.
He annoyed just about everybody else, except the distributors (that largely the network operators) but won the day. Why? He talked about how, right now, handsets (and networks) don’t deliver.
Sure, they connect, they can play, they can download and roll, The Smartphones have a way to go – but, as Steve Jobs said on Friday, they’re all getting there. It’s just that the iPhone is getting there quicker and with more style
Is the iPhone an issue? Not now, not really. Steve told us that the other “Smarts” have the same, solvable problem. At the technical layer its about a hardware/software workaround. Next time they’ll get it right.
At the network layer, it’s about integration – exactly how disparate mobile devices connect and communicate through this thing we call “the Web”. A theme for another post… but yours idea would be very welcome.
At the marketing layer, it’s about feeding desire – and Steve nailed this on Friday. Here’s the script: apologise, involve people with the problem, make it general, offer a bonus – then stoke the market with a time-limit. Beautiful.
So here’s the thing. In the next year, who do you think will sell more handsets – Apple or the Droids? My bet is still on Jobs to deliver, because the iPhone is still an object of desire.
Price-point is an issue but the difference between the Droids and Apple deals here and in the US mean that the corporates can still justify the added spend, if only on the base of desire. Professionals want to be seen using them.
But the iPhone does not only win there. Its nearest rival, HTC has produced beautiful products, the Desire and the Hero among them. The reviews are brilliant and all just point to a central sales flaw – the base. Open Source obviously means less control, more potential but at the same time means less control at the User Interface. If the Droids get the UI right, they will win the Apple war.
At the same time as we’re debating the benefits of Open Source, Apple, in the mobile sector, is winning because it has brand trust, brand affiliation, and a deep sense of its own rightness. It also does killer PR – in ways that we need to learn.
Tags: HTC, HTC Desire, HTC Hero, iphone, iPhone 4, Open Source, steve jobs
August 19th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
I myself am a droid owner and love it. It really is a workhorse and doesn’t give me issues. I have friends who have their Iphone 4’s and do regret the decision to give up their 3g, because even with the “bumper” they are dropping calls left and right. They can never see leaving the Iphone, because they are loyal to their brand and love its functionality.
Although I have no complaints about my Droid, I am intrigued by the Iphone and am sure that if my carrier becomes a distributor, I’ll be in line too.