Posts Tagged: apple iphone

apple news / observatory / strategy — 8 Comments
29
Jul 10

Antennagate: a love story

The most amazing thing about a Steve Jobs presentation is not what he does on stage. It’s what happens in the mainstream press immediately after. More times than not, they echo and amplify the message Steve has so carefully crafted.

Few companies can pull off such a feat so consistently. That’s because it ain’t easy. Apple puts a ton of work into creating a simple, powerful message for every event. That message then appears in Steve’s speech, on apple.com, in the press release — it’s hard to miss.

Steve’s favorite technique for driving a point home on stage? Brute force. He makes his point. And then he keeps making his point. Until no reasonable person could conceivably miss his point.

The Antennagate Press Conference wasn’t like a product launch event. It was a special circumstance. For this one, Steve pounded away at two messages. One was “smartphones aren’t perfect.” The other was … well, see if you can figure it out from this video.

apple news / strategy / technology — 11 Comments
15
Jul 10

The great mystery of Apple’s stumble

There are a few reasons I respect Apple as I do.

Corny as it sounds, the biggest one is that they believe in “doing the right thing.” In my experience, other companies believe they share this value, but frequently confuse the right thing with “the most cost-efficient thing” or “the least controversial thing.” Apple focuses on the customer experience and makes decisions accordingly — even when the cost is high.

That’s the Apple I know. It’s also the Apple that, for reasons unknown, has taken the last few weeks off.

The good news is, there is now a press conference set for Friday morning. We can safely assume Steve will explain what’s happened and tell us how Apple is going to set things straight. It’s important to note that this is being billed as a press conference, which is something I’ve never seen Apple do before. That means they’ll be taking questions from the assembled press, and those questions are sure to be pointed. This is brave, but also necessary. By their own action and inaction, Apple’s “got some splainin’ to do.”

I’m confident that sanity will be restored. The bigger question is, how did sanity slip away in the first place?

Personally, I cannot imagine that Apple — or any company — could possibly design antennae in such a radical way without being aware of what happens when a human hand bridges the gap.

My theory is that Apple did what they’ve always done so well in the past. They looked at the total product design and made the tradeoffs necessary to create the best possible iPhone. What they gained by this design — a 24% thinner phone that gives most users better reception — seemed like a good tradeoff.

In hindsight, of course, that seems terribly naive. Apple attracts way too much scrutiny for such things to go unnoticed. They created a lose-lose situation for themselves. It appeared that they either didn’t have a clue about antenna engineering or they tried to slip one past us. This wasn’t just an opening for the anti-Apple crowd — it was a disappointment for Apple customers used to the pursuit of perfection.

Anyone looking for evidence that Apple knew about the flaw from the start would point to Exhibit A: the bumper. A few designer cases aside, Apple hasn’t dabbled too much in cases before, yet bumpers were a part of iPhone 4 from the start. This could be perfectly innocent — it just looks suspicious given what’s happened.

So why didn’t Apple handle this better? Why would their response be an open letter (not written by Steve) that reeked of a company avoiding responsibility? For those experiencing dropped calls, the display of bars is hardly the issue. A software fix alone seemed laughably inadequate, and terribly un-Apple.

Why didn’t Apple do what they’ve done before? Steve personally responded to the original iPhone pricing fiasco by offering $100 gift cards to those who overpaid in the first three months. Why didn’t they offer iPhone 4 buyers something as substantial?

Personally, I believe lack of “substantial” has been the hold-up. That iPhone 4 open letter was their attempt to calm the torch-carrying masses at a time when they literally had nothing substantial to offer. The engineers hadn’t yet solved the design issue for future iPhones. Bumpers were back-ordered, so Apple couldn’t even reasonably suggest them as a fix. They may well have gotten themselves into a situation where there wasn’t a viable “right thing to do.”

But Steve has one power that few CEOs have. He can make things happen, even if they don’t seem possible. So I believe all the pieces are now in place for Apple to respond as we wished they would have responded earlier. I expect them to get back into to the right-thing business on Friday. It will be expensive, probably involving $50 gift cards or free bumpers to those who’ve already bought — and a no-questions return policy for those about to buy. Obviously it will also involve a plan to address the design flaw in manufacturing.

The great shame of this is that iPhone 4 is an amazing bit of technology. I have experienced no reception issues with mine. It’s one of those devices that makes me happier every day. Despite the feeding frenzy in the mainstream press and blogosphere, there is no iPhone 4 user revolt. People aren’t flooding the Apple Stores to get their money back. What we have is a huge number of happy customers being bombarded by stories telling them they shouldn’t be so happy. I’m not sure there’s any parallel in consumer product history.

I don’t mean to downplay this. The iPhone antenna issue is a problem that needed fixing yesterday. But there is an art to turning negatives into positives, and Apple is pretty good at it. I hope Apple sees this as another opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction — and another opportunity to do the right thing.

advertising / creative / strategy / technology — 8 Comments
13
Jul 10

iPhone 4: the show must go on

Apple’s new batch of iPhone 4 ads come at a most interesting time.

iPhones continue to sell like, well, iPhones — yet that thorny little reception issue keeps getting more complicated. Antenna experts debate, competitors take advantage and now even Consumer Reports lobs a grenade, apparently landing a direct hit on Apple’s sense of sportsmanship.

Let the battles rage, I say. For the moment there are new ads to review, and it’s our holy duty to answer the call.

There are four new ads in total, joining the first ad that’s been running for a while now. Like that first spot, the new ones focus on one thing and one thing only: FaceTime. That’s the killer feature, and Apple (thanks to agency TBWA\Chiat\Day) communicates with the simplicity and clarity it’s known for.

There’s a ton of humanity in each of the new spots. In fact, if you don’t take them in moderation, you may suffer an overdose of humanity.

It’s an old joke in marketing that babies and puppies are the only sure-fire hits with customers. Of the four new iPhone spots, one is about a newborn and another is about a baby-to-come. Hmm.

Here’s a quick review of each of the spots:

Meet Her. A new dad uses his iPhone to give his own father a first look at his baby girl. Touching script. Grandpa plays the part perfectly. Heavy on the sap factor, but looks great. Nice touch that the beautiful baby is confined to the mini-screen while we concentrate on the bigger image of gramps.

Haircut. This is a real charmer. It doesn’t set out so obviously to tug at your heartstrings, it’s just an everyday story — which actually makes it more powerful. You don’t feel like you’ve been “played” after you see it. You totally get how iPhone could change the way you communicate.

Smile. This spot succeeds in the same way Haircut does. Not at all heavy-handed, it’s just a moment in life made more touching by iPhone. The girl with the braces is sweet and plays the part perfectly, melting under dad’s gentle pressure in the span of 30 seconds.

Big News. Unfortunately, no matter how cool FaceTime is, you can’t help but think it’s sad that dad-to-be is getting the most important news of his life via iPhone. If the happy couple has really “been working on ‘that thing’ for a while now,” I can think of a few better ways to share this moment.

One technical quibble with these spots is the hand. In Meet Her, it feels totally natural. It moves. It’s real. In the other three spots, it’s like a piece of acrylic — unnaturally perfect and motionless, save a little shifting that appears to be added after the fact. I wonder why all the spots couldn’t have been produced with the reality of Meet Her.

I imagine these ads will work well for Apple, especially in the touchy situation they’ve created with the antenna. Connecting emotionally with customers is the best insulation against damage, and that’s been Apple’s strength for eons.

I will only note that with Apple’s transition from perennial underdog to market leader, its consumer image seems to be evolving from human & cool to human & sappy. Doubtful that Apple will slide headlong into the Hallmark Zone — but when two out of four spots are about babies and fatherhood, the puppies can’t be far behind.

apple news — 4 Comments
8
Jul 10

Don’t tell Steve Ballmer…

Coincidence or conspiracy?

I had a fun little surprise when I tapped out Steve Ballmer’s name in my iPhone Mail app, which then offered to auto-correct for me.

It only works when you use lower-case letters. But still, it’s a nice little touch.

Oh, those rascals in the iPhone software group…

apple news / strategy — 10 Comments
6
Jul 10

An open letter back to Apple

Dear Apple,

Thanks for the open letter last week about the iPhone 4 antenna issue. You know I’m a lifelong supporter, and I wish nothing but the best for you. So please take this in the helpful spirit in which it is intended:

That letter was pretty dreadful.

I’m not talking so much about the content. It’s more the way you presented it — which I found very out of character for a company normally so adept at PR. Your choice of words affected how your fans and detractors think of you. And with both groups, you raised far more eyebrows than you needed to.

First, I was surprised that Steve didn’t write this letter personally, since it’s hard to imagine a topic more worthy of his attention. And then the way you tell the story just feels kind of amateurish.

Apple's own words lead directly to stories like the NY Post's

We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising. Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong.

It’s a bit disconcerting to hear that you’re surprised and shocked. You get major points for honesty — but demerits for unnecessarily shaking our confidence. Surely you could have laid out the same facts in a far more positive way, without being shocked at your own misunderstanding.

This mistake has been present since the original iPhone…

Now you call it a “mistake,” and get into how iPhones have been falsely displaying bars since the beginning of time. You make yourself sound bumbling, which I know you are not. Unfortunately, putting it this way leads directly to headlines like the one pictured in this post.

We’re also making bars 1,2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

When I first read this line (not on your site), I was convinced your letter was a hoax. It actually made me laugh. This is purely cosmetic, and has nothing to do with the problem. Better to have just built this into the software fix and let it be received as a nice touch later.

It’s not like you haven’t been here before. You’ve always gone out of your way — sometimes at great expense — to turn negatives into positives. Remember when you faced a customer revolt over the $599 pricing on the original iPhone? Steve wrote an open letter, lowered the price to $399, gave out $100 Apple Store certificates to early buyers — and you ended up enhancing your image as a result.

Sometimes history is a very good thing to repeat. In this case, a letter from Steve could have cured all. He could have told us how iPhone 4 has broken all sales records, and the vast majority of owners are in love with it. He could have explained how the antenna design actually improves reception for most, and enabled you to make the phone 24% thinner. He then could have told us how a very small percentage of people are experiencing issues — but any percentage is unacceptable to Apple. To address the mistaken perception, Apple is now adopting AT&T’s newest standards for displaying bars in the software. And since the problem disappears entirely with a Bumper or any case, Apple will be giving Bumpers to any customer who requests one. It would be a hell of a lot cheaper than giving out $100 Apple Store certificates.

Done this way, CNN wouldn’t be reporting that Apple has “raised more questions than they answered.” The NY Post wouldn’t be talking about Apple admitting it had been “misleading customers” since 2007. A hundred bloggers wouldn’t be turning Apple’s own words against them. The episode would be behind us, and Apple would once again be praised for “doing the right thing.”

If only.

Oh, and by the way, no need to send me a Bumper. My iPhone 4 is doing just fine, thanks.

apple news / naming / technology — 9 Comments
9
Jun 10

Welcome, iPhone 4

Despite the lost prototype fiasco, I thought the iPhone 4 intro was still pretty darn interesting. Guess there’s a bit of a difference between Gizmodo ripping the cover off and Steve Jobs walking us through the features. Some quick reactions to the phone, the event and the marketing:

A4 processor. Thank you! If iPhone performance = iPad performance, I will be euphoric.

24% thinner. Excellent. I hereby cease secretly envying my son’s iPod touch.

FaceTime, the technology. Totally love it. Dual switchable cameras and no-setup software are so very Apple. And tremendously cool.

FaceTime, the video. Anyone notice that Apple seems to be getting sappier as it gets bigger? I miss the edgier stuff. Whatever, maybe I know too much about how ads get made for my own good. Since the phone isn’t shipping yet, I assume we’re looking at actors from central casting getting misty-eyed on cue. But that’s just me.

iPhone 4, the video. Polished and professional. But, as noted in the past, these launch videos have become formulaic. Same cast of characters, familiar hyperbole. Wish they’d stray just once to prove it can be done. Apple = creativity.

The Glitch. It’s a shame, but meaningless in the end. Once, when Bill Gates publicly suffered a horrible tech problem on stage, we agency mischief-makers turned it into a 30-second ad for Apple. Steve wasn’t interested. “This stuff happens to all of us,” he said. Let’s see if the courtesy is returned.

Renaming the OS. In a post back at launch time, I thought it odd that something called iPhone OS would power things that weren’t phones. That mismatch is indicative of the thinking in effect when the moniker was selected. This was just a no-brainer — with three i-devices running the same OS, the new name is perfect. iOS forever.

Retina Display. Can’t wait to see it in person.

5-Megapixel Camera. Pixels aren’t everything, but all the camera improvements together should bump up the quality nicely. I may actually start using this camera.

iMovie. I love surprises. iMovie for iPhone was a good one. In glorious 30fps 720p. Well done.

Unified Mailbox. Good lord, what took you so long.

Folders. My app screens had become agonizingly complicated. Much appreciated.

iBookstore. Will please many, but not me. I’ve tried to read on an iPhone and it’s too damn tiny. If the gods meant us to read on iPhone, they would never have given us iPad.

strategy — 5 Comments
31
Mar 10

The joy of having a backbone

Last week Apple acquired the iPad trademark from Fujitsu, about two months after they launched iPad. Three years ago they acquired the iPhone trademark from Cisco, about a month after they launched iPhone.

Yikes. Any armchair lawyer could tell you this isn’t the ideal way to go about securing a product name. Once you’ve launched, your negotiating position pretty much evaporates.

So which is it? Does Apple have an incredible knack for getting itself into dicey situations? Or does it simply have a backbone?

The truth is, Apple often succeeds because it is willing to stand up for what it wants. Sometimes that requires going up against other companies. Other times, it likely involves going up against its own lawyers — who surely wouldn’t advise launching a product without first securing the name.

Steve Jobs has a refreshing attitude about lawyers. He listens to them carefully, and then he makes a decision based on many factors, including his long-term vision and short-term marketing goals. He wants to understand the risk, but he will decide if the risk is worth it. And oftentimes it is.

This just doesn’t happen in most places. Certainly not on such a visible level. When a company’s legal department issues a ruling, it’s all over. And since it’s the lawyers’ job to keep the company out of the courts, their opinions are invariably conservative. Some of the feistiest clients I’ve known would never dream of pushing back against the lawyers — even if it’s to discuss the wording of a legal disclaimer.

I can’t imagine IBM, Dell, Intel or any technology company exposing themselves to lawsuits over a product name. It’s unthinkable. But that’s exactly the kind of thing Apple does think about. Over and over, they prove that a little backbone can go a long way.

strategy / technology — 11 Comments
22
Mar 10

The curiously underfeatured Windows Phone 7

Close your eyes and think happy thoughts — you might not notice what's missing

It appears that Windows Phone 7 will soon be among us. During its incubation period, Android has come out swinging and Apple has continued to perfect iPhone.

Given how long Microsoft has been working on it (years?), and how far its competitors have come (very), it’s highly curious that Windows Phone 7 will ship with three noticeable deficiencies: no Flash, no multitasking for third-party apps and no cut-and-paste.

If you’ve been keeping score, those are the very same deficiencies for which Apple has been slammed by competitors and critics. Only in iPhone OS 3.0 did Apple finally get around to cut-and-paste.

Microsoft does claim that they’re working with Adobe to add Flash as a feature later (why this should take so long I don’t know), but the other items are omitted on purpose. This doesn’t exactly defang the argument that Microsoft copies what people like about Apple. Now they appear to be copying even the things people don’t like about Apple.

And so Microsoft must live with the consequences of its software design. Android will be emboldened because their “advantages” expand to include Windows Phone 7 as well as iPhone. Apple will be strengthened because the things they’ve been criticized for were just validated by the enemy.

One company who is threatened by Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft — which may have just designed itself into that awkward place between two sides of a vice.

strategy / technology — 6 Comments
17
Mar 10

Shrinking ray to shine on iPhone?

For a company that loves to surprise people, Apple does a darn good job of sticking to a schedule. In fact, they go about innovating in a most businesslike way.

Products are refreshed on a fairly regular schedule. New products tend to start off basic, and then bloom over time.

Look at the original iPod and you’ll get a serious case of the giggles. The thing is a brick. Just a thousand songs, no photos, no video. Apple spent the first three years finessing it. Then, just as competitors started to narrow the gap, they zigged when the pursuers were zagging. A smaller and cheaper model (mini) caught everyone off guard, attracting even more customers. The family continued to expand from there, with a still cheaper model (shuffle), followed by a sexier model (touch).

So — is this a time of reckoning for iPhone? The next generation is expected in June. Apple has spent the first three years perfecting a single model, just as they did with iPod. Now that the the League of Android is nipping at their heels, is this the time Apple shakes things up by starting to build a family of iPhones?

It may be hard to imagine Apple offering an iPhone with fewer features. But no more illogical than what happened with iPod — and Apple is pretty good at duplicating success. It’s not hard to envision the iPhone market opening up to even more customers with a super-slim iPhone nano offering full speed and new-model coolness at a reduced price.

Surely, stranger things have happened…

advertising / creative — 16 Comments
12
Mar 10

Playing it safe with iPhone

I like my Apple to be brash. Unafraid. Gleefully killing products in their prime. Taking risks in unproven markets. Making other companies look cowardly. What I love about Apple is that they never play it safe.

Well, almost never.

I’m honestly puzzled why, after three years, the newest iPhone ad looks pretty much like the first iPhone ad. If you weren’t paying close attention to this newest spot, you might well think you’d seen it before.

It’s about Apps, of course — and I’m 100% in favor of that. Apps have changed the world, and Apps have become iPhone’s crushing advantage. It’s just that there are a thousand creative ways to talk about Apps. And it’s very un-Apple to do the same thing over and over and over.

But wait, you say. The Mac vs. PC campaign has been running even longer. It sure has. And the beauty of it is, every spot tells a fresh story. The characters change appearance, they talk about different things, they use props, guest characters appear — in other words, it’s a real campaign. People actually talk about it. When was the last time you heard someone raving about “that new iPhone commercial”?

The production technique is stale (still photo of iPhone in hand with a finger moving over it) and even the words are becoming suspect. I was pretty shocked to hear the Exedrin-quality last line, ”That’s why I don’t go anywhere without my iPhone.”

Maybe I’m not the target with these ads, but I should be. In a marketplace where word of mouth is everything, you want to keep giving your owners the ammunition to enthusiastically recruit friends and family.

Apple has always taken bold leaps because it’s in their nature to do so. In the case of iPhone, they have gale force winds at their backs, so stretching creatively is literally a no-risk situation. A little fire can only help. Between Apple and Chiat, there isn’t the remotest chance of creating ads that will bring the empire down. It’s only advertising. It’s there to get people excited.

As far as I can tell, there’s only one reason on earth why Apple keeps running these ads: they work. And make no mistake, it is terrifically hard to knock success. However, this is the “don’t rock the boat” school of marketing — and it’s completely out of character for Apple. I’d say it might even be dangerous, with new and better smartphones popping up around every corner.

This is one boat that could use some serious rocking.

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