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Steve Jobs explains branding

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Re: Steve Jobs explains branding

#51

Post by loire280 »

erikstarck wrote: post #39
loire280 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The DJs at night clubs, the knob-twiddler guys in indie rock bands, and the film students at the local university are all using Macs to make their art. In fact, I'd say Apple's devices and the tools they create to publish to those devices have done a lot to make these creators' lives easier. Think about how much more music people listen to thanks to the ubiquity of iPods. Would the indie rock movement have had as muc…

Apple just released new versions of the iMacs. This used to be a major event and they made a lot of fuzz about each new update. Now go to apple.com. What's taking up 90% of the front page? Apple is a consumer device company. Sure, they still make great computers, but that's more and more just a side business.

The iMac update was a spec bump (and a particularly minor one at that). There's not a whole lot of marketing message there. They made a much bigger deal when the current enclosure was introduced and when they released the 27" iMac earlier this year.

Re: Steve Jobs explains branding

#52

Post by erikstarck »

refulgentis wrote: post #46
erikstarck wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, as soon as Apple removed "Computers" from their name they also stopped being a "tools for the passionate"-manufacturer. They now sell primarily media consumption devices. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not the same core Jobs talks about in this video.

I thought an iPad was for consumption, not creation. Then I found out it has not one, but two, complete office suites compatible with Microsoft Office. (Documents To Go, Pages, Numbers, Keynote). Then I found out it could completely replace my guitar amp, with 5 different amps, 11 stomps, 5 cabinets, and 2 mics. (AmpliTube, AmpKit) Then I found out it could do advanced photo editing. (PhotoGene, PhotoForge) Then I fo…

Yes, you can use it for creating but it's not its primary purpose. Just as you can use a laptop for reading books. The experience is just so much better on an iPad.

It's a "lean back" consumption device not a "lean forward" production tool.

Come to think of it, perhaps it's more like a "lean back" production device.

Re: Steve Jobs explains branding

#53

Post by erikstarck »

refulgentis wrote: post #48
erikstarck wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple just released new versions of the iMacs. This used to be a major event and they made a lot of fuzz about each new update. Now go to apple.com. What's taking up 90% of the front page? Apple is a consumer device company. Sure, they still make great computers, but that's more and more just a side business.

This begs the question: why isn't an iPad a computer?

No floppy drive? ;)

Just kidding. Good question! I think it has to do with the fact that the natural home for a computer is the desk while the natural home for the iPad is the sofa or the bed.

Re: Steve Jobs explains branding

#54

Post by forgottenpaswrd »

spoiledtechie wrote: post #41
motters wrote: post #11

Steve Jobs is right about branding in this video, and it's for exactly these reasons that I'm not a big fan of Apple. Their core values are about dictating what developers can do with their hardware. Selling software shouldn't be about one person having the power to dictate what goes into a store. That's not a free market. Users shouldn't have to "jail break" their own hardware just to be able to use it as they wish.…

Its pretty sad to see that yes men of Apple vote you down, when you speak the truth and offer an intelligent start to a conversation.

Oh yeah, so sad. Those that agree with you are intelligent and speak the truth, those that not, are "yes men".

Forget me, I don't want to pop the bubble you live in.

Re: Steve Jobs explains branding

#55

Post by dizm »

Keyframe wrote: post #37
MikeCapone wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you say they make better products now or when this video was shot? I think that for such a product-centered company, that should be the benchmark.

I'd say they make far far better products now. That's not the issue here. It's just that back before Jobs was ousted and when he returned you'd hear about Apple, you'd hear about philosophy behind it etc. Now you hear sales stats and here and there how good the product is or will be. No more philosophy or visions in talks. Maybe it's just my perception of it though.

This is so offbase, that I'm not sure where to begin. Every iPod ad. The FaceTime ads, at the end of all recent Steve Jobs keynote. Apple is trying to promote their philosophy and vision constantly.

Re: Steve Jobs explains branding

#56

Post by jpwagner »

mhoofman wrote: post #44
wmeredith wrote: post #8

I'm basically reposting my comments on this video from my company blog... The big takeaway is in the first few lines of this video: "This is a very complicated world. This is a very noisy world and we're not going to get a chance... to get people to remember much about us. No company is. And so we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us." The whole branding/selling thing goes like this... Lunch…

Wouldn't this just be a company's logo or slogan? (ie Nike: Just Do It).

no, that's a mantra:

http://academicearth.org/lectures/dont-write-mission-stateme...

Re: Steve Jobs explains branding

#57

Post by alsomike »

Marticus wrote: post #4

Here's what gets me: The disconnect between that video at the end of his presentation versus Apple today. "Think different... as long as we approve your application for download on the app store." Admittedly a pretty cool video though.

But in fairness, in Gandhi's and Martin Luther King's time, the app store policies were even more restrictive - all apps were rejected, since there was no app store at all! I don't understand it myself, but somehow they were able to change the world despite not being able to create these apps. I totally agree that Gandhi's plan A was to make a Farmville-style game that let's you make illegal virtual salt, and MLK was going to make a SimCity game where you could control a character who refuses to sit at the back of the bus. This is historically documented. Obviously supporting mass protest and civil disobedience in such a safe, efficient, convenient way, so that people could do it whenever they had a spare moment, like waiting in line at the movies or the grocery store, is very threatening to the status quo. And the authorities refused to allow those kinds of apps (or any apps, or smart phones of any kind) because they were correctly seen as too powerful at creating widespread social change, too upsetting to the status quo.

Now, I know what you're going to say: "Yes, but we only are allowed to have smart phones because the authorities have found ways of neutralizing their subversive potential! The apps that are truly threatening will be rejected!" I admit this is true - powerful corporate lobbyists have sabotaged my own app where you earn points and badges for turning off lights and composting your trash because of how devastating this would be in their attempts to keep people mindlessly consuming.

I guess what I'm saying is, keep hope alive. Yes, Apple's authoritarian iron fist thwarts our attempts at changing the world, but remember that Gandhi faced similar struggles against the violent British colonial regime, and Martin Luther King faced death-threats, even finally being assassinated. Yes, we mourn all our fallen apps that have been "assassinated" or "lynched" by Apple's arbitrary app store policies, but we must not lose hope, we must continue the struggle and endure these heavy losses. History is on our side!

Re: Steve Jobs explains branding

#58

Post by andreyf »

brlewis wrote: post #50
andreyf wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We shall see how well it works out for them to be the brand for people who aren't fond of rules...computer geeks excepted. I think we see it pretty well already, no? People who think they can change the world aren't the kind who care whether or not Apple gave them permission to jailbreak their iPhone.

I think I can change the way the world tells its story with photos, and it bothers me that Camera+ and other 3rd-party iPhone apps can't write EXIF data; only the native app can. Yes, it sounds like a geeky objection, but it makes a difference to people's stories whether the photos can say when and where they were taken.

It's been awhile since I've done iPhone development, but it seems this is available starting in iOS4: http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/Grap...

It's hard to find engineers who can work on products like iOS, so I think it's understandable if they can't get every nook and cranny of the API into v1.

Re: Steve Jobs explains branding

#59

Post by andreyf »

erikstarck wrote: post #52
refulgentis wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought an iPad was for consumption, not creation. Then I found out it has not one, but two, complete office suites compatible with Microsoft Office. (Documents To Go, Pages, Numbers, Keynote). Then I found out it could completely replace my guitar amp, with 5 different amps, 11 stomps, 5 cabinets, and 2 mics. (AmpliTube, AmpKit) Then I found out it could do advanced photo editing. (PhotoGene, PhotoForge) Then I fo…

Yes, you can use it for creating but it's not its primary purpose. Just as you can use a laptop for reading books. The experience is just so much better on an iPad. It's a "lean back" consumption device not a "lean forward" production tool. Come to think of it, perhaps it's more like a "lean back" production device.

Come to think of it, perhaps it's more like a "lean back" production device.

Actually, I think it's more a slab of touchscreen with a minimalistic app manager. What you do with it is up to you ;)

Re: Steve Jobs explains branding

#60

Post by ary »

Keyframe wrote: post #37
MikeCapone wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you say they make better products now or when this video was shot? I think that for such a product-centered company, that should be the benchmark.

I'd say they make far far better products now. That's not the issue here. It's just that back before Jobs was ousted and when he returned you'd hear about Apple, you'd hear about philosophy behind it etc. Now you hear sales stats and here and there how good the product is or will be. No more philosophy or visions in talks. Maybe it's just my perception of it though.

Have you seen a keynote given by Jobs since he returned to the company? You can't watch one without hearing about their philosophy and values. Sometimes it's mere lip service, but it's always there.
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