Is this blasphemy?
June 4th, 2008 by kunalSo, here’s the thing - I have a problem. I use a mac, I have an iPod, but I hate Apple. I understand that is probably not the most popular view in the world, but let me explain myself. I think their products are great - I couldn’t really imagine using a PC again. But as a marketer, I continually wax poetic about how brands/companies need to be open:
It’s all about co-creation!
Transparency!
Be open and honest!
Bring your customers into your brand!
As great as Apple’s products are, they do none of that. In fact, in my opinion they are the antithesis of that - one of the most closed and tight-lipped brands in existence. Steve Jobs and Co. are secretive about everything, don’t let anyone know what they are doing until it is unveiled, and generally act like they are better than everyone. I hate it - makes me angry (although that could be jealousy about not creating the iPod myself, who knows).
My point in all this is that there are a lot of brands that are lauded as really great examples of how to be/think/act. Apple is one of them. Google is another - but they act completely different. Google is the mainstream flag-bearer of the open-source movement. They love making things free, they are fighting to make the wireless industry much more open (by the way if you are interested, the Android Developer Challenge is a neat thing to check out), and in general are just a lot nicer than the folks at Apple.
So what is it? Cool products? Neat technology? Innovation? Leaders in their respective fields? My question to you is this - what makes a brand/company “cool”? Why can Apple be so closed off yet live in the same conversations as a company as open as Google?
*this post written on my MacBook Pro while using Google to find the nearest chinese restaurant and listening to my iPod nano. (So whatever it is, these two brands are obviously damn good at it)
Tags: Android, Apple, cool brands, Google, innovation, open-source
June 4th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Re: Apple. It’s cool because of design, design, design. (product & software & their integration). They don’t collaborate with consumers, but they’re driven to be great by a genius. Subtract the genius, and you’d have Apple under John Sculley -which you’re probably too young to remember. I do. Apple products sucked then. (Performa, anyone?) Trouble is, there simply aren’t enough geniuses to go around.
As for Google, they’re nice because they have giant piles of money, which allows them to give away all sorts of fun free stuff. If Microsoft (heaven forbid) manages to chomp off part of Google’s money machine, Google may not, then, be so nice.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Good question. I think if I had to pinpoint what makes both of these brands so damn “cool” I’d say its the combination of the “they get-it” factor and their ability to represent one common philosophy. Regardless of whether or not Apple opens itself up to consumer it’s obvious that they have a phenomenal understanding as to how we want our technology to look, and how we want our technology to interact. For Google the same idea applies, they understand that in a world where everything is sensationalized that something so simple as a search engine…should maybe remain just that…a search engine. In terms of their brand philosophies, each brand, I think, does a fantastic job reflecting the wants of its consumer base; simple, convenient, and maybe most importantly life-integrated.
June 6th, 2008 at 9:01 am
To be honest, I love macs. I think they are a strong, wonderful system with some of the most amazing aesthetics for a computer.
And yet every single Apple store just makes me cringe. The employees wear shirts which parade the fact that they ARE the authority on everything — and yet they couldn’t even help my friend with trying to select a simple imaging program.
The open hostility for those who operate on a PC is startling. I like to think of Apple sometimes as very stylish Borgs - “You will be assimilated”. It is the reason that I still run windows at home.
That and I simply detest those Mac commercials (I find John Hodgman so much more lovable than that arrogant hipster mac.)