Herald Sun 26 June 2010
The mobile phone wars are hotting up with a new intensity of competition. The reason, of course, is the Apple iPhone. And the question is, has Steve Jobs given the sector a shot of adrenalin - or is he vampiring all of the blood for himself?
You see, last year because of the Greedy Financiers' Cataclysm (GFC) the mobile phone market took a sharp dip. The junk bond traders and barrow boys could no longer afford a new phone a week so sales and turnover declined.
But by this year it has recovered, globally up by 22 per cent in the first quarter, selling nearly 300 million units. The impetus has come from smart phones. After all, who wants to be seen with a dumb phone these days?
In the US it's still Blackberry in the lead with iPhone, the newcomer, hard on their heels. Already between them they have nearly 60 per cent of the market.
Here in Australia, Nokia is still the king. But market research analyst IDC predict that Apple will knock the Fin off its throne by Christmas.
The claim has some credence in the street. One phone store was asked, "Are the iPhones selling well?" Their reply, "We haven't been selling anything else all month." There is a definite swelling momentum at work here that could sweep all before it.
So I wondered, well the other companies aren't dummies, they're hardly going to pack up and go home, they must have some strategies up their sleeves. What's the plan?
Nokia were tight-lipped about Apple’s predicted triumph, but they did declare they have the lion's share of the smartphone market in Australia - without nominating a figure.
Their hopes are resting on the new model N8, to be released October-December. This has more bells and whistles than a theatre organ: 12MP camera, high definition video, web TV - and a big graphic screen just like the iPhone's. They have obviously been burning a lot of midnight oil in Helsinki.
The other big hitters are also slugging away. Google's Android operating system is fuelling new magic from the likes of HTC and Motorola, while Microsoft are about to launch their new Windows Phone 7; their current customers include Samsung and Palm.
Where iPhone has won big-time is in the apps race. Two years ago Blackberry had thousands of apps yet Apple had but a handful. Today Apple claim 150,000 apps while Blackberry App World has 15,000 at the most. What went wrong?
"Blackberry didn't focus on apps, Apple did," explained a BB observer. "Also, they don't do their own above the line advertising, just leave it to the carriers, and Apple swamped them." Not controlling your own advertising is like driving from the back of the truck.
This is where good marketing counts and as I've often said, there's no better marketer than Jobs. He has sold iPhone directly to the public, creating a sucking vortex that the resellers can't ignore.
"Resellers hate iPhone, they don't make money out of it," explained the observer. "Jobs put all their money into marketing and has given the guys in the middle nothing."
Nokia also took a swipe at Apple. "We're not a one size fits all company," sniffed a spokeswoman. "We're able to deliver a range of handsets across different price points to different customers."
As if to prove the point, Nokia recently released its Bicycle Charger Kit, like a bike light generator you plug your phone into. It’s aimed at the Third World, one of the biggest growth markets. In South America or darkest Africa, even if they don't have electricity, they can charge their phones as they ride to work. Try that with an iPhone.
Showing posts with label Steve Jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Jobs. Show all posts
06 February, 2010
Steve Jobs, iPad and the art of being second
February 6th, 2010
Just this week we have seen a demonstration of how to succeed by being second, from the king of being second. The man who made himself a billionaire by never being first.
It might surprise you that I'm talking about Steve Jobs, the CEO and living god of Apple. But you could learn so much by emulating his marketing brilliance.
And it is marketing we are talking here, not inventive genius. Apple is more like the couture houses of Paris than the sweaty labs of Silicone Valley. It's all about style and show and fashion. And it works - it has kept working for 30 years.
Back in the early '80s a rash of small, cheap "personal" computers emerged based on chips from Motorola and Intel. Apple was one of these. Their breakthrough came when they borrowed the graphical user interface (that's what GUI means), and the mouse, from the Xerox labs and brought out the Macintosh.
From the beginning Jobs used the world's greatest designers, starting with Hartmut Esslinger for the Macintosh line. It was launched on the Super Bowl with a two million dollar commercial made by Ridley Scott.
Called "1984" - that was the year - it showed the stuffy old-world conventions being smashed by an aggressive young sportswoman. It spoke to the hearts of the Gen-Xes who have been loyal Apple fans ever since.
When Jobs was axed in 1985 after a boardroom stoush, the company declined and then went into nose-dive. After 12 years they begged him to return. They needed his marketing magic - and got it.
H e brought with him the new generation's design genius, Englishman Jonathan Ive. They set to work and soon came up with the bulbous, coloured, translucent iMacs that looked like they came from another planet. Suddenly Apples were sexy again.
There were already plenty of personal MP3 players around but it took Ive's design and Jobs' marketing to create the iPod. Married to iTunes it became a music industry phenomenon.
Hundreds of companies around the world were making excellent mobile phones, but a little clever engineering and a lot of brilliant marketing created the iPhone, not just a tool but a toy.
Last week Jobs unveiled the iPad in San Francisco and the world's media and trendsetters reacted like the Spice Girls at a Galliano fashion launch.
No word about the note pad launched by Bill Gates in 2002 or the Amazon Kindle from 2007. And those two aren't exactly shrinking violets in the marketing sphere, either.
Jobs has never given us anything we didn't have before. His brilliance is his understanding of design, attention to quality, and - most importantly - very clever marketing. Like a magician, when he reveals the new product, you think you've experienced something totally new.
How often I come across clients who feel defensive because their competitors are already selling a product like theirs. Only cheaper or bigger or they've been in the market much longer.
My response is, forget about the competition. From now on your product is the first, the best, and without equal. Scrap your tired old "me too" advertising, we're going to re-invent you.
After this past week I can add a new morality tale to my repertoire: Look at Steve Jobs - he launches the iPad in the teeth of competition from established Microsoft and Amazon brands, it lacks even a USB port or camera. But it is beautiful, fun, and it's Apple. They are already queueing for it.
Now, take a close look at your own product, how it looks and how it's marketed. It might be No 2 or even No 10, but it can still be made a winner.
ray@ebeatty.com
Just this week we have seen a demonstration of how to succeed by being second, from the king of being second. The man who made himself a billionaire by never being first.
It might surprise you that I'm talking about Steve Jobs, the CEO and living god of Apple. But you could learn so much by emulating his marketing brilliance.
And it is marketing we are talking here, not inventive genius. Apple is more like the couture houses of Paris than the sweaty labs of Silicone Valley. It's all about style and show and fashion. And it works - it has kept working for 30 years.
Back in the early '80s a rash of small, cheap "personal" computers emerged based on chips from Motorola and Intel. Apple was one of these. Their breakthrough came when they borrowed the graphical user interface (that's what GUI means), and the mouse, from the Xerox labs and brought out the Macintosh.
From the beginning Jobs used the world's greatest designers, starting with Hartmut Esslinger for the Macintosh line. It was launched on the Super Bowl with a two million dollar commercial made by Ridley Scott.
Called "1984" - that was the year - it showed the stuffy old-world conventions being smashed by an aggressive young sportswoman. It spoke to the hearts of the Gen-Xes who have been loyal Apple fans ever since.
When Jobs was axed in 1985 after a boardroom stoush, the company declined and then went into nose-dive. After 12 years they begged him to return. They needed his marketing magic - and got it.
H e brought with him the new generation's design genius, Englishman Jonathan Ive. They set to work and soon came up with the bulbous, coloured, translucent iMacs that looked like they came from another planet. Suddenly Apples were sexy again.
There were already plenty of personal MP3 players around but it took Ive's design and Jobs' marketing to create the iPod. Married to iTunes it became a music industry phenomenon.
Hundreds of companies around the world were making excellent mobile phones, but a little clever engineering and a lot of brilliant marketing created the iPhone, not just a tool but a toy.
Last week Jobs unveiled the iPad in San Francisco and the world's media and trendsetters reacted like the Spice Girls at a Galliano fashion launch.
No word about the note pad launched by Bill Gates in 2002 or the Amazon Kindle from 2007. And those two aren't exactly shrinking violets in the marketing sphere, either.
Jobs has never given us anything we didn't have before. His brilliance is his understanding of design, attention to quality, and - most importantly - very clever marketing. Like a magician, when he reveals the new product, you think you've experienced something totally new.
How often I come across clients who feel defensive because their competitors are already selling a product like theirs. Only cheaper or bigger or they've been in the market much longer.
My response is, forget about the competition. From now on your product is the first, the best, and without equal. Scrap your tired old "me too" advertising, we're going to re-invent you.
After this past week I can add a new morality tale to my repertoire: Look at Steve Jobs - he launches the iPad in the teeth of competition from established Microsoft and Amazon brands, it lacks even a USB port or camera. But it is beautiful, fun, and it's Apple. They are already queueing for it.
Now, take a close look at your own product, how it looks and how it's marketed. It might be No 2 or even No 10, but it can still be made a winner.
ray@ebeatty.com
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