Think Different(ly)
Today, I am going to discuss the most controversial subject know to man. It's not health care reform or gay marriage. It's not religion or abortion. The subject that evokes more passion from geeks around the word is, of course, Apple. I can't think of another company or product that actually personifies its products in the way Apple does. The "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads have turned one's choice of computer into a definition self. So much so, that Microsoft had to respond by personifying Windows with their own 'I'm a PC' ads.
I have a love/hate relationship with Apple, Inc. It's more hate than love, and the fact that I can feel hate or love for a corporation disturbs me. Years ago, during an animated discussion with my brother about Microsoft and Apple he gave me some advice. He said, "You shouldn't love or hate something that can't love or hate you back." This is not to be confused with loving somebody who doesn't love you back. Unrequited love is a whole different concept. My brother was referring to my ongoing angst over the Windows/Mac 'war' that was raging. That bit of advice really struck a chord with me, and I tried to follow my brother's advice from then on with varying amounts of success.
I tried to not care about the ridiculous war of words being fought in tech magazines, the web, and around the water cooler about the virtues and demerits of Apple and Microsoft, and for a while, I was successful. It was then that those infuriating, and sometimes misleading, Mac/PC ads started to air. In the ads a young and hip guy plays the 'Mac.' An older, fatter, nerdier, dumber man portrays 'PC.' In the commercials, the 'PC' would invariably be made the fool, and the 'Mac' would be shown to be the smarter and cooler choice. I get it. It's a commercial for Apple, it is going to promote their products. What got to me was that Apple was comparing all Windows users to dumb, fat, losers. Why should I support a company that views me as such? Switching to a Mac would make me feel like I let the school yard bully take my lunch money. That ad campaign is the perfect example of Apple's smug attitude that makes me hate it. There are many other reasons for my disgust. The 'Genius Bar', fanatics at MacWord hanging on Steve Job's every word as if it was a revival meeting, and the general 'fancy pants' design of Apple store...and so much more.
Take the iPhone for example. For years now, the computer industry has been migrating from the desktop to the 'cloud'. Data and applications hosted on servers and accessed via the internet is rapidly becoming more common, freeing users from being tied to their hardware. Apple comes along with the iPhone and reverses the 'cloud computing' trend by forcing all iPhone users to download applications, or as Apple calls them 'apps.' The iPhone does support Adobe Flash. If it did, developers would be able to build Flash applications formatted to fit the iPhone screen (or any smart phone screen) and deliver them via the Web, thus bypassing Apples' control. According to an article on Wikipedia, Apple charges developers $99 per year and takes a 30% commission on every app sold through the App Store. Apple markets and makes money on the fact that the iPhone has tens of thousands of available applications, third party developers build them, and Apple takes 30 percent! Quite a good racket. Imagine if Microsoft tried to use this method of application distribution with Windows 7? The DOJ would get an injunction to halt its release. Now that Apple has had so much success with this model, Microsoft, Blackberry, Palm, etc. are following suit. I own a Motorola Droid with the Google developed Android operating system. There is an Android 'app store', but you can also develop and distribute apps outside of the Android Market.
Apple holds all the cards. In an effort to keep the iPhone system from being filled with malicious and resource draining apps (a noble cause) they have exerted full censorship on content while taking a hefty sum from every developer. All this and Apple's image is as shinny as, well, an apple. I against government control over the technology industry, and I believe Apple has every right to conduct business any way they want, but, Apple fanatics, just wait until the Department of Justice antitrust division comes knocking on Apple's door in a few years. Ask Microsoft, there is a price to pay for market dominance.
So, where is the 'love' in this 'love/hate' relationship. The love is for the technology. I love computers and gadgets, and Apple makes some cool stuff. Also, Apple is an American computer and consumer electronics company. Apple's success benefits the American economy and thus benefits me. Some Apple users (and I must emphasize SOME) are so insular in their view of technology. If it doesn't have an Apple logo on it, they don't want to know from it. When I go to the mall, I stop in the Apple store, but I also browse around the SonyStyle store. I am a Microsoft enthusiast, but I just installed Ubuntu Linux on my computer, dual booting with Windows 7, to check it out. I really like Microsoft's Bing search engine, but Google still has the best search algorithm. Why would anybody limit their access to technology to one company?
I guess I'm not doing very well following my brother's advice about not loving or hating something that can't love or hate you back, but I'm gong to try harder to follow his example in 2010. I think I can do it. Now, I just need some way to stop hating the Yankees and getting my heart broken by the Mets every year.
January 16th, 2010 - 12:33
Apple provides a rigid but clear market experience for the consumer. The message is: this is what we make, isn’t it pretty? This is what you can do with it, this is how much it costs. Simple. Microsoft’s message? Not sure yet.
Go to Apple’s website and look at their homepage. Now look at Apple’s. MSFT offers so much to so many that they can’t possibly get a focused and clear message to the entities who use their stuff.
Consumers like a clear message. They want to know what you do and how much is costs. above that, they are ambitious to fit in to the image that is portrayed. They want to look like the guy in the Bowflex ads. They want to be the guy driving through the tunnel in a BMW with a hot, drunk model in the passenger seat.
So, AAPL portraying the Mac and PC guys as they do isn’t so much a projection of how they see the consumer market as it is a sort of fun house mirror. They distort and sharpen the contrast to emphasize what they think buyers want to see themselves as. Of course, the deck is stacked so buyers want to see themselves as the Mac guy vs the doughy PC.
Keep in mind, the PC is seen as smart. Smart but arrogant. His arrogance is his downfall whereas the Mac, while a bit douchy, is more humble and kind to the doofus PC.
This response was typed on a Mac.
January 18th, 2010 - 12:48
More valid points, Mr. Driveshaft. I agree that Apple does a great job marketing their products. I cover my frustration with Microsoft’s (and others) confusing marketing of their consumer products in a later post. Apple may think they are being humble in those ads, but it comes off to me as very arrogant. As I have said before, I love their tech, but everything else about Apple just gives me the d-chills.