Apple Computer, Inc. VS. Apple Inc

A well loved brand has been changing in recent weeks into a well hated brand. Sadly that brand is none other than Apple and people are reeling. Hopefully this post will clearly explain my personal take about how and why it’s happening.

The Building of a Legendary Brand
Over the years Apple has spent a stunning amount of time and effort building their image around certain core elements.

1. The Art of Design: Apple is revered for their elegance and simplicity of design. Their products are intuitive and designed in such a way that you almost always walk away saying, “wow this better than sliced bread.” If you don’t believe this, you should know that Apple products have had the highest satisfaction ratings of any company in the industry, year after year.

2. Easy Choices: Apple’s hardware and software can be reduced is a single word, easy. If you look at their product line, Apple has only focused on helping customers make the “easy and right choice.” They have 2 types of laptops. Macbooks and Macbook Pros. They only have to types of desktops iMacs and then the higher end Mac Pros. Until recently they have only had 3 iPods. The shuffle, Nano and iPod with Video. Now that the iPod Touch has been release there are only two models which are divided by 8gig and 16gig drive sizes. Now there is only a 8gig iPhone.

Apple reduces the product clutter and the same can be said for their software. This makes them very approachable and friendly. This aspect alone has made them legendary. Consider companies like Dell that have what I call product confusion. There are so many choices that most customers end up feeling confused and as they are walking away with their purchase asking themselves, “did I pick the right system.” When people think about Microsoft’s software in any aspect, most us think “over-weight and bloated.” Contributing to this image is usually very slow loading software, no matter how good your processor is.

3. On Schedule: Remarkably Apple Computer was very good at hitting release dates. When they said something was going to be there, it was there. Now as they have shifted into Apple Inc., you might have noticed that starting with their upcoming release of OS X Leopard, that has ended in dramatic fashion. They look much more like Microsoft than Apple. If you missed it when Tiger was released Steve Jobs made a very specific knock against Microsoft’s Vista and how many delays they had, while in the same cycle we had 3 versions of OS X released.

4. Culture of Cool: Look further back than the Mac and PC TV commercials all the way to the 1984 commercial. Apple Computer oozed coolness, freedom and independence that rivaled the brand identity of Harley Davidson. And like Harley Davidson, in order to be cool it was going to cost you. Such was the price (pun intended) of being elite. Add to that mystique that if you used an Apple product you are somehow more like a renaissance person versus being a lack luster uncreative straight-jacketed PC type person. Hence the reputation of Apple users as being rather “Fanatical” on a certain level.

5. Amazing Customer Service: Apple has been known to have terrific customer service. In times past I and others have had Apple go out of the way to ensure that we where satisfied. Apple Computer’s motivation? Make sure that the positive feeling towards Apple Computer was maintained. It was like dating someone that really respected and cared about you. When you experience that kind of commitment and service, you become very loyal and very in love with the brand. Because of that, you are willing to pay more for that product cause you know that you are going to be getting the very best product but on-going service as well.

6. Steve Jobs as Prophet: In a way, Jobs himself has embodied a reputation that was reserved only for Google. “Do no evil.” Jobs since his reinvention over the years has been thought of as the “Perfect” CEO. Part visionary, detail oriented, unwavering and Oracle (as in the vein of the Matrix). The thought of uttering his name and the word “mistake” in the same sentence would have been unthinkable, prior to Apple Inc.

And the Mighty Has Fallen:
That brand loyalty that Apple took so long to build cultivate is rapidly evaporating. The real question is why? There are actually 3 principle reasons that I have come to.

1. New Players to the Mix: Jobs has been working though an odd relationship with Music, TV, and Movie moguls. These companies are notoriously ruthless and for better or worse are rather unfaithful to those they enter into business deals with. On top of this, these guys are the anti-techs because Apple Computer broke into their “closed” system. They have a lot of anxiety related to loss of control within the content distribution channels.

While record companies know that they are pretty universally hated, they are also aware that the people that they have signed are very much loved by their fan base. Fans don’t usually get screwed over by the bands that they are into, but rather the record companies that employ them. Sadly people are kind of used to that reality. This same mentality applies towards TV shows and various movie characters. On the other hand, people are not used to having Apple Computer/Apple Inc. in on the screwing them over part.

Since getting into the wireless telecommunications the problem has only been exacerbated. There are a whole host of issues to contend with and this is counter-intuitive for Apple and their customers.

Heretofore screwing customers over has been repulsive to Steve Jobs. He doesn’t enjoy screwing people over. My suspicion is that the combined pressure of not only the Music industry but also TV, Movie moguls and the Cellular companies has him (probably) off balance. He does not have the same type of leverage that he’s use to.

2. Maintaining the Ecosystem: It might surprise some people, but Job’s himself likes closed systems, just like the industries that he’s dealing with. You don’t believe me? How many music/media players do iPods currently work with? Which is more important, the chicken or the egg, the music, TV show, movie and wireless revenue or the Apple hardware that it can live on? Job’s clearly wants both and conceptually the marriage of content and hardware is a ecosystem that he strongly desires to protect.

This desire for the closed ecosystem is costing Apple Inc, big-time at this point. To everyone’s surprise Steve Job’s has not been his usually smooth self. As a matter of fact, he looks unusually sloppy and awkward.

Jobs sloppiness and current ineptitude has culminated in something known as “firmware update 1.1.1” of all things. Apple willfully rendered a 400 to 600 dollar product inoperable for those who “unlocked” their phones (fortunately I was not one of those people). In point of fact is was kind of an odd way of Apple saying “you don’t own that technology, we do.” On top of that, the update rendered third party applications such as native IM, nice tools like dictionaries as non-working, even on locked phones. That stinks.

This is a ugly move on Apple Inc.’s part because they themselves are not developing the applications that customers desire. In point of fact the iPhone is somewhat weak on the apps side. While there is a lot of coolness there are some nice practical things missing, like simple “cut and paste.” I cannot fathom why there is not Instant Messaging built in. Where’s the Adobe “flash” in the web-browser. One would think that if they closed a door that they would take care of customers themselves. They have terribly fallen down on enhancing the feature set of the iPhone (also I think they probably over gutted the iPod Touch). While the WIFI music store is nice, there are a whole host of apps that I would like to have instead, since I use my iPhone as a productivity tool.

On this point, I think Apple Inc. is making an mistake, because third party applications increase the viability and value of the product. By their current actions, they have actually reduced its usefulness. This makes them look like a bunch of rookies. This is sad, sad, sad.

3. Beyond Core Competency: I think in moving from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc, they have moved outside of their core competency and look rather clumsy, foolish and almost vindictive (e.g. bricked iPhones).

On every positive element that Apple Computer used to help build their brand, Apple Inc. has undermine or undercut themselves and by extension, long-time and short-term Apple product users. It’s painful and extremely disappointing. Does Steve Jobs have plans to turn the boat around? I’m not really sure, since the Apple boat has gotten so big. But I must say like the curse, we are living in interesting times. It’s not enough to just be smart, we also have to be wise.

// Jaye Morris

iPhone | Gee That Was A Little Harsh

I wanted to write something about my iPhone experience. Despite I have had one from day one, please don't consider me a Apple fan boy. Truth is that I am a realist and I am more than aware of Apple's upsides and downsides more than some people will ever know. That being said lets get to it.

Yes, I paid, 600.00 bucks, but did easily retrieve my 100.00 rebate from Apple, thank you very much. Okay, that makes my hardware investment 500.00. Not bad considering that I have a Motorola Q running Windows Mobile 5 that I had to pay 514.00 for since I was not at my upgrade date. Wow, I already feel like I've come out ahead.

1. iPhone's ATT Coverage Area: This is probably been the single most difficult pill to swallow for most people. Contrary to ATT's prior ads, I do drop calls and have occasional problems with connectivity. As a note, I live in a semi-rural country area, so in one sense not to bad. When I'm home or at the beach there is almost never a problem. When I'm in any major cities like, Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, it's stellar. The Edge network is slow and pokey, when you are loading regular web pages. When I'm not around WIFI and using the Edge, I simple use Mobile web pages, using Google Mobile as my starting point and it's actually very usable at that point. As usual Google kicks booty for this sort of thing. This is no frills, but when I'm on the move, what I'm really interested in is my data, not beautiful web pages per se.

2. iPhone as a Cell Phone: This is where real world experience comes in very handy. As a cell phone, it 100% kills the competition hands down. It really is the best cell phone interface that I've ever used. I finally have an something that is intuitive and makes complete sense. I still am with Verizon, and switched to using the Samsung SCH-u740. A nifty phone, but like all the others, they have so many screwy menus, I can rarely fine the stuff that I am really looking for. Whether it's LG, Samsung, Motorola, or Nokia they are all hellish to use. I sometimes find myself asking "what goof-ball engineer thought that should go there?" Sorry, that's just the truth. We've just gotten used to being abused by these lame interfaces.

3. Text Messaging: The pro is the message bubble interface that's kind of similar to Gmail. Your texting with a particular person is in an easy to follow conversation. At all times there are buttons available to immediately call the person or jump to their contact information. The Con is that you can only text one person at a time. No groups of people. Another catch is you cannot do MMS and send multimedia though the text messaging interface. The workaround is to send it to say phonenumber@vpix.com and then the person will get it, but that is far from the typical Apple smooth.

4. Email: Excellent interface. You get to see real HTML email or any of that other stuff. Very nice indeed. It handles attachments for Word, Excel and PDF extremely well and you get a nice view of those documents. THe downside is that you can't edit them. I like to edit stuff and send it back to people. Smart Phones like the Q can do this, but you have to shell out extra money to get something like DocsToGo.

5. Internet Browsing: As I mentioned before, this is weak when you are on the Edge network (unless you use mobile pages) but very cool and snappy over WIFI. On WIFI this is all kinds of fun and practical. I love this. I've stopped lugging my laptop around the house with me all the time and if I want to surf, just use the iPhone which has the tightest pixel resolution which means a really dazzling screen. It's resolution is better than a computer monitor. BTW this is something very different than Smart Phones. When you go somewhere like a hotel or Coffee show, when you access a WIFI network, you have to hit an HTML web-page. The iPhone is the only device that I am aware that does this. Try that one with your Palm Treo.

6. iPod: Yes it is the best iPod ever. Truer words have never been spoken. It's so good that you forget that there are actually attempting to compete with Apple in this realm. I cannot even think of any company that is even remotely close. This is like Burger King. You can have your music, video, books, etc... any way you like it (as long as it's under 8 Gig).

7. Other features like Calendar, YouTube, Weather, Stocks, Clocks, Notepad: Everything in these departments is just icing on the cake. All of these apps are really good. My Appointment calendar is my favorite tool, because it works so well for me.

8. Going Jedi: This is where things get really interesting. The iPhone is running a real operating system. That means you can have real software applications on there. I must admit there are some applications that I miss, but there are people who are making really cool native apps. You start with "App Installer" and everything else springs from there. You can use Summer Board to trick out your iPhone Home interface, you can download any number of games, get Mobile Chat to do your AIM IM, and many other apps including a dictionaries, and my lovely Mobile ToDoList. And best of all it runs native from your phone. Too cool for school. Translation this is a flexible device, that will fit your digital life.

The draw backs. Yes, there is always a price. While it doesn't crash daily as when I was on the Motorola Q, I do have a few technical qualms.

1. Ring tones. That is just a bummer that I have to spend .99 to make one. On the other hand it's way cheaper than Verizon.

2. No cut and paste. You don't know what your missing until you miss it.

3. No file browser. You can download one using App install, but it's still the point.

4. Lack of built in MMS and group texting. That was just weak on Apples part. Not having MMS or group texting on your phone is like wandering out into the street without your shoes on. You will get somewhere but it might hurt a bit.

5. No 3G networking. Apple has to do this in the future to be viable. the Edge just plan sucks. It reminds me of the old dial-up days.

Conclusion:
On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give the iPhone a 8.5 to a 9 easily. There is definitely room for growth. Most of the people who are being so harsh and complaining or railing on Apple have just gotten overly spoiled by the Apple reality distortion field better know as Steve Jobs. Get over it, the iPhone is not the "Jesus Phone." It's just a very well done [truly] smart phone which is in it's first generation. If this is an indication of where things are going, this really gives tangible life to Bill Gates vision of "Ultra Mobile Personal Computing," (UMPC). This is certainly what it should be like. Personally, I'm enjoying the convergence.

P.S. One last thing. That little issue about the keyboard not being too cool, it just a red-herring. I have used QWERTY om the Moto Q and Blackjack and find that I am actually faster on the iPhone. I must say the type clicking sound is actually helpful.

// Jaye

An Open Letter to NBC

I encourage you to read "An Open Letter to NBC re: Leaving Apple’s iTunes Store" by Jeremy Horwitz over at the iLounge. He makes a great case on the availability and pricing of digital content. I myself am hoping that NBC/Universal will relent, but I won't be holding my breath. They are a media giant that may have some people on board that lack insight into New Media.

// Jaye Morris