Steve Jobs and his team at Apple are really marketing geniuses. They took on the Microsoft machine and are if not beating them in the market share game, are at least beating them at the cool game, scoring cool points all over the place. First, they introduced the iPod, which became a must-have gadget for music lovers -- and let's face it, a status symbol. Microsoft has done respectably with the Zune, but it hasn't caught on like the iPod.
Even more ingenious is the (perhaps) unexpected consumer frenzy for all things Apple. While the Mac was initially the choice for graphic design professionals, thanks in part to the success of the iPod, many business professionals are gravitating toward Macs. See http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_19/b4083036428429.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5 if you need more proof.
Then came the much ballyhooed iPhone, which, while I become an early iPod adopter, I resisted the iPhone. (In the interest of full disclosure, I gave in about a month ago and I love it!) But the iPhone really underscored how Apple was winning the cool game. I know that I have been using this analogy a lot recently, but I have politics on the brain -- but Hillary Clinton is to Microsoft as Barack Obama is to Apple. One is not necessarily better than the other, but one is definitely cooler.
Microsoft is caught playing the "me too" game while Apple continues to innovate and become the choice for the cooler generation. It remains to be seen how this will all play out, but God Bless those marketing minds that work inside Apple.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1813117,00.html
