TidBITS#644/26-Aug-02
=====================
Is Apple's "Switch" ad campaign helping PC users think different
or blurring the carefully defined brand that the company has spent
years developing? Simon Spence returns with more insight into the
Apple brand. Also in this issue, Adam reports on the first week of
PayBITS results and generates envy among TidBITS staffers by
upgrading his TiVo. We also note the releases of Mac OS X 10.2
Jaguar, two Mac OS X security updates, and Default Folder X 1.6.
Topics:
MailBITS/26-Aug-02
The First Week of PayBITS
Upgrading the TiVo
The Branding of Apple: Apple's Intangible Asset
<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-644.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/issues/2002/TidBITS#644_26-Aug-02.etx>
Copyright 2002 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
Information: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Comments: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------
This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* READERS LIKE YOU! You can help support TidBITS via our voluntary <- NEW!
contribution program. Special thanks this week to Tim McNair,
Sarah Garrison, and John DeMillion for their generous support!
<http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html>
* Small Dog Electronics: Loads of LCDs at Small Dog! <--------------- NEW!
Factory Refurb.: Apple 23" Cinema: $3,249; 22" Cinema: $2,099
Macworld Expo Demos: 22" Cinema: $2,129; 17" Studio: $799
All with 1 year warranties! <http://smalldog.com/> 802/496-7171
* Protect Yourself from Internet Intruders! IPNetSentry is the
intelligent, easy-to-use way to deter hackers from an Internet-
connected Mac. Rated 5 "locks" by SecureMac.com. Just $35
from Sustainable Softworks <http://www.sustworks.com/tb/>
* DEALMAC: D-Link 802.11b Wireless Access Point for $80. <----------- NEW!
<http://dealmac.com/articles/40011.html?ref=tb>
DEALMAC: LEDA 4.7 GB DVD-R media 25 pack for $29.
<http://dealmac.com/articles/40021.html?ref=tb>
* Now Software, developer of Now Up-to-Date & Contact <-------------- NEW!
Rated 4 1/2 Mice - Macworld 8/02 - Most powerful, flexible
personal and group calendar and contact management. Mac OS X
(8.6-9.x), Palm, Web and Windows! <http://www.nowsoftware.com/>
* Bare Bones Software Mailsmith 1.5 -- Extra-Strength Email for <---- NEW!
Mac OS X and 9. Imports mail directly from Emailer, Eudora,
and Apple Mail. Powerful filters, robust scripting, and more.
For more info and a free demo: <http://www.barebones.com/>
* EXPAND YOUR TIVO! Pop one of our pre-configured hard drives into <- NEW!
your TiVo and add up to 300 hours of recording time. Our self-
install kits contain everything you need while eliminating the
need for a PC to format the disk. <http://www.weaknees.com/tb/>
* Six Degrees is timefreeing technology that automatically <--------- NEW!
connects messages, files and people on your desktop so you can
quickly navigate through projects. Free 30 day trial version!
---> <http://www.creo.com/sixdegrees/index.asp?id=tidbits> <---
---------------------------------------------------------------
MailBITS/26-Aug-02
------------------
**Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar Unleashed** -- On Saturday, 24-Aug-02,
Apple released Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, the second major update
to Mac OS X since the operating system's release on 24-Mar-01. As
with Mac OS X 10.1, Jaguar offers significant improvements on the
status quo, bringing back features from Mac OS 9 (such as spring-
loaded folders and Software Base Station) and breaking new ground
(look at Rendezvous and Inkwell). We've looked at Jaguar's
features in brief before, and additional coverage will be
forthcoming as we learn more. In the meantime, Jaguar discussions
have already started on TidBITS Talk - be sure to check them out
for details. A single-user copy of Jaguar costs $130, or you can
buy a 5-license family pack for $200. [ACE]
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06816>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06880>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=1711+1712+1714+1715+1716
+1718+1719+1688>
**Mac OS X Security Updates Released** -- Apple has made available
a pair of security updates for Mac OS X to help prevent unwanted
access to your Mac. Specifically, the updates modify components
of Mac OS X to incorporate changes in OpenSSL 0.9.6g, and the Sun
RPC XDR encoder under Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. Security Update
2002-08-20 applies to machines running Mac OS X 10.1.5; Security
Update 2002-08-23 works on Macs running Jaguar. The update is
either a 2.2 MB or 5.6 MB download, depending on which version
applies, and is available through Software Update or as a separate
download from Apple. [JLC]
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120141>
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120142>
**Creo Sponsoring TidBITS** -- We're pleased to announce our
latest sponsor, Creo, whose Six Degrees software brings to email
the elegant thought that computer programs should make easier
those tasks that you already perform. Implementations of this
concept are few and far between - perhaps the first was Super
Boomerang, which tracked recently opened files and folders and
made it easier for the user to open them again. There's also the
way some email programs record the addresses of people to whom you
send messages and make it easier to send messages to those people
again. Six Degrees takes the concept one step further, looking at
your incoming and outgoing mail to determine relationships between
the people with whom you work, the messages you send and receive,
and the files attached to those messages. Then it provides a
simple interface to find, for instance, the latest version of
a file in progress, the message that contains it, or all the
messages from the person who sent it so you can track the
evolving discussion surrounding the file. That's all without
requiring you - or anyone with whom you work - to change your
working style.
<http://www.creo.com/sixdegrees/>
As much as Six Degrees is useful today - assuming you use
Microsoft Entourage on the Mac, or Microsoft Outlook on Windows -
I'm even more interested to see how Creo extends the concept of
using implicit relationships within your email to help you focus
on important messages and avoid the crud (how many of us have
relationships with spammers?). Don't underestimate Creo - a scan
through the developers' weblog shows that they're thinking hard
about the implications of what they've created and how it can help
pull email out of the morass of both legitimate and unwanted
messages. [ACE]
<http://www.creo.com/sixdegrees/news_weblog.html>
**Default Folder X 1.6 Adds Jaguar Compatibility** -- St. Clair
Software has updated Default Folder X to version 1.6, adding Mac
OS X 10.2 compatibility and other features to the Open and Save
dialog utility. This version incorporates one of the most useful
features of the original Default Folder, enabling you to click
on a Finder window (even if it's obscured by other applications'
windows) to display that window's contents in the Open or Save
dialog listing. Default Folder X 1.6 also now connects to folders
on remote servers if the folder is in your Favorites or Recent
Items list, improves compatibility with AppleScript and QuickTime,
and incorporates a number of other fixes. The update is free to
registered users and is a 2 MB download. [JLC]
<http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/release.html>
The First Week of PayBITS
-------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Since PayBITS is such a major experiment for us, I thought I'd
provide a quick report on how the first week went. Despite my
not realizing that building a suggested amount into a PayPal URL
would prevent people from entering their own amount (unless they
cleverly edited the URL), my iPhoto Techniques article received
26 payments for a total of $116.50. I wouldn't walk past that on
the sidewalk. Even more impressive was the response to the PayBITS
block at the end of the actual PayBITS introduction, which
attracted 53 new TidBITS contributors and generated over $1,100.
A huge "Thank You!" to those of you who participated, not just for
the financial support, but also for believing that it's reasonable
to assign value to the information we consume.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06909>
<http://www.tidbits.com/paybits/>
Feedback about PayBITS continued to roll in to TidBITS Talk and
to me personally, and I've tried to reply to everyone. Most people
were still overwhelmingly positive about the idea, though some
remain unconvinced that it will work in practice. All I can say
is that you never know until you try.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=1707+1696>
As we continue, we'll be testing out a variety of different
things with PayBITS, including varying the wording, testing
different payment services, and more. Plus, a number of people
have expressed interest in writing for us to help test PayBITS,
so we won't have any trouble providing a wide variety of great
articles in the near future.
<http://www.tidbits.com/paybits/>
Upgrading the TiVo
------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Tonya and I have been big fans of the TiVo digital video recorder
since we first got a 30-hour unit a few years back. It fits our
style of watching television perfectly, since we previously used
our VCR to record TV shows for watching when we felt like it,
rather than on the scheduling whims of network television
executives. There may not always be much on TV that's worth
watching, but if there is, the TiVo captures it for us. (See
Andrew Laurence's two-part TidBITS review of the TiVo for full
details; there's also been a great deal of discussion of TiVo
and other digital video recorders in TidBITS Talk.)
<http://www.tivo.com/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbser=1204>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlktxt=TiVo%20video>
But all was not well in TiVo-land for us. The change happened when
we moved from Seattle back to Ithaca last year. In Seattle, we'd
happily limped along with antenna reception of about six channels;
the TiVo helped us extract shows we wanted to watch from our
limited selection. The video quality wasn't great, but that was
largely the antenna's fault, and we weren't interested in buying
a satellite dish. In our new home in Ithaca, though, we could no
longer receive TV over the air, forcing us to pay for cable. The
TiVo showed its worth once again, helping us find good shows from
our now-massive selection. The video quality still wasn't great
because I'd set the TiVo to record at either Basic or Medium
quality to avoid erasing shows before we wanted to watch them.
Even then, the TiVo didn't have enough space to store the variety
of shows we might want to watch on any given night.
Clearly something needed to be done.
**Perhaps the Sequel?** One possibility was buying a new TiVo
Series 2, which offers up to 60 hours of recording time (all
the quoted sizes match roughly to gigabytes of disk space when
recording at Basic quality, the lowest level, so a 60-hour unit
probably has a 60 GB hard disk in it). The TiVo Series 2 is also
smaller, features a new remote control, and, most interestingly,
has a pair of USB ports, just like on our Macs.
<http://www.tivo.com/get/series2/>
Research on the TiVo Community Forum revealed suggestions from
TiVo about how they expect these USB ports to be used. With USB-
to-Ethernet adapters, you'll be able to download program data over
a broadband Internet connection rather than the internal modem,
and at some point you'll be able to access your TiVo over the Web.
Plus, that extra bandwidth will enable a video-on-demand service,
making it possible to order just shows you wanted - the example
given was the popular Se... er, "Fooling Around" in the City"
(dratted content filters!) that would otherwise require a monthly
subscription to HBO. You could also attach a USB CD-ROM player,
have the TiVo Series 2 import the music in MP3 format in a Music
Library (complete with album names and title tracks downloaded
from the Internet), and play it from there. Finally, TiVo also
plans to make it possible for you to connect digital cameras for
importing and displaying photos. Slide shows could even include
music from your Music Library.
<http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=40610>
<http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=39623>
Although the TiVo Series 2 hardware is available now, none of
these services are out yet as far as I can tell (though there
is completely unofficial support for a number of USB Ethernet
adapters, with which you can download guide data over the Internet
instead of via the modem). TiVo's Web site merely says that the
"two integrated USB ports will allow support for a number of
digital peripherals and access to exciting new future services
in home entertainment." Since I'm already happily using my Macs
as MP3 music and digital photo libraries, I'll wait and see how
good a job TiVo does. Plus, buying a new TiVo Series 2 would cost
$400 for the hardware and another $250 for the lifetime service.
$650 is more than I'd like to spend right now, especially given
that the TiVo Series 2's 60 GB hard disk isn't that large compared
to the size of inexpensive hard drives today.
<http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=61226>
(And yes, I know I could also buy a ReplayTV unit, which already
has some of this functionality, but I'm extremely fond of the TiVo
and its interface. For other people, a ReplayTV or other digital
video recorder might be a good choice.)
<http://www.replaytv.com/video/replaytv/>
**We Can Rebuild Him. We Have the Technology** -- These promised
features for the TiVo Series 2 are possible because the TiVo is
essentially a computer running a custom version of the Linux
operating system. And as Andrew Laurence mentioned in his review,
a huge user community has grown up around the TiVo, in large part
because the company has been accepting of the many hacks and
modifications TiVo owners have performed on their TiVos.
Without question, the most common hack is to add more disk space
to a TiVo by installing a second hard drive. The process involves
connecting the new drive in slave mode to your Mac (not too hard
in a Power Mac, but essentially impossible in any other model),
formatting it with Erik Wagner's free MacTiVo Blesser program,
and then transferring the drive over to your TiVo.
<http://tivo.samba.org/index.cgi?req=all#3.6>
<http://homepage.mac.com/ewagner/>
The MacTiVo Blesser program is a bit old, isn't Mac OS X-native,
and the last comment posted on the site is from over a year ago
(plus, unless Erik has ponied up for .Mac, the entire site will
go away soon). It didn't make me particularly comfortable, and
although I'm perfectly capable of mucking around in the innards
of computers, the discomfort discouraged me from taking the time
to investigate more fully. More recent and more supported software
and instructions are available for PCs, but I couldn't muster
enthusiasm for using a PC if I could possibly avoid it. Finally,
I was concerned that any bare drive I purchased wouldn't come with
appropriate mounting hardware for the TiVo - I'm not one of those
people who can bear attaching hard drives with plastic cable ties.
<http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/index2.html>
<http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/index9.html>
In short, dealing with the TiVo had been pushed to the back
burner.
**Arthroscopic Surgery** -- That was when Michael Adberg of
Weaknees.com (a self-admitted terrible domain name) contacted me
to ask about sponsoring TidBITS. He and his partner did FileMaker
consulting, but they'd started Weaknees in late 2000 to provide
TiVo upgrades after they'd been bitten by the TiVo bug. Sponsoring
TidBITS was a bit expensive for them, but then Michael suggested
paying partially in the form of a TiVo upgrade. Though we don't
make a practice of it, we're not opposed to the concept of barter,
particularly for hardware we'd likely buy anyway. Besides, we like
to have experience with our sponsoring companies, and what better
way to get it?
<http://www.weaknees.com/tb/>
Michael shipped me their standard upgrade - currently priced at
$265 with free shipping - for adding 145 hours to a single-drive
TiVo (I had to check the model number on the back of my Philips-
built TiVo to verify that I had a single-drive unit). The well-
padded package included a pre-formatted 120 GB Maxtor drive,
printed installation instructions, a mounting bracket, all the
necessary mounting hardware, and the all-important Torx #10
screwdriver for removing the screws that hold the TiVo case shut.
I happen to have a collection of screwdrivers that included the
necessary size of Torx screwdriver, but many people may not have
this particular tool, without which you can't open a TiVo.
(For anyone who works with electronics frequently or finds opening
cases with lousy or incorrectly sized screwdrivers frustrating,
I strongly recommend Wiha's tools - I have a slotted/Phillips set
and a Torx set, though I'd probably get one of the larger
interchangeable blade sets if I were buying now.)
<http://www.wihatools.com/266sets.htm>
<http://www.wihatools.com/629serie.htm>
With everything ready, I disconnected my TiVo from its many
cables, set it on the dining room table, removed the screws, and
tried to open it. Failing miserably, I then followed the advice
Weaknees suggested for opening the extremely tight case (which
involves putting the TiVo on the floor, where it's easier to apply
more pressure). It's certainly possible to open TiVos, but TiVo
has no incentive to make it as easy as Apple does with the Power
Macs. Bear in mind that opening your TiVo voids your warranty.
The rest of the upgrade process went exactly as the instructions
said, including cutting a cable tie that restrained the second
power connector and removing the hard drive cable from a clip.
The two pages of instructions were accurate, clearly written,
and accompanied by pictures, though marred slightly by a couple
of typos and the way they made you go off in the middle and read
a separate set of instructions for attaching your drive to the
mounting bracket. If you've ever opened up a Mac to add memory
or a hard drive, you shouldn't have any trouble installing a hard
drive in your TiVo. The hardest part for me, in fact, was getting
the case back on straight after I was done. The entire process
took less than 30 minutes, despite the fact that I was working
methodically to avoid mistakes.
After I reconnected all the TiVo's cables and plugged it back in,
it came back up and reported 184 hours of space at Basic quality.
More important to me was that it said I'd have almost 52 hours at
Best quality, so I immediately changed all my Season Passes and
Wishlists to record at Best quality. Later that night, after the
TiVo had recorded some shows, Tonya and I compared the difference
between Basic and Best. Basic was certainly watchable, but Best
was crystal clear, and using it significantly improved the TiVo
experience for us. Life was good again.
(I also noticed that Weaknees sells external modems you can use
to replace fried internal modems and recommends using a phone line
surge protector to safeguard your TiVo's modem from thunderstorms.
It's good advice - two months ago, a massive storm managed to hang
our TiVo's modem for ten days. I was initially worried I'd have to
hunt down a new modem, not realizing at the time that the TiVo
modem is soldered to the motherboard. Luckily, unplugging the TiVo
and plugging it back in reset the modem; I'll be getting a phone
line surge protector to go with the old uninterruptible power
supply I use to protect the TiVo, VCR, and cable box from power
spikes and outages.)
<http://www.weaknees.com/protect.html>
<http://www.weaknees.com/tivo_modem_fix.html>
**Goldilocks Upgrades a TiVo** -- To sum up then, there are three
basic ways you can expand your TiVo.
* First, as I noted earlier, you could buy all the parts and
pieces separately and do it yourself. That will undoubtedly
save you money because you aren't paying for someone to format
the drive or package it with mounting hardware and installation
instructions. If you're comfortable buying and installing computer
components, and you have the time to spend assembling all the
parts, this is certainly the least expensive approach. The TiVo
FAQ will point you in the right direction.
<http://tivo.samba.org/index.cgi?req=all#3.1>
* Second, there's the upgrade kit that I got from Weaknees.
I gather that there are also a few other companies offering
similar upgrade kits. Upgrade kits are ideal for people who are
comfortable installing computer components, but don't mind paying
more to avoid the trouble of researching and ordering all the
pieces and formatting the drive (which isn't even possible unless
you have a Power Mac or a PC).
* Finally, if you're just too intimidated by opening your TiVo,
Weaknees and other companies will perform the upgrade for you.
It costs more, of course, and you must ship them your TiVo. I'd
recommend this option for people who have never opened a Mac
before and who are concerned they might not understand the
directions (you can read Weaknees's instructions online if
you're unsure of your comfort level).
<http://www.weaknees.com/tivo_upgrade_instructions.html>
In the end, I'm glad I used the Weaknees upgrade kit, since doing
it from scratch would have taken hours, and that in turn would
have meant putting the task off forever. Now I have a far more
capacious TiVo that can store a wider variety of TV shows and
play them with a high quality picture, and the whole effort took
less than a half hour out of my weekend.
PayBITS: Did you find this article especially helpful? Consider
compensating Adam a small amount (perhaps $1) for his efforts!
<http://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=ace%40tidbits.com>
What's this? Read about PayBITS: <http://www.tidbits.com/paybits/>
The Branding of Apple: Apple's Intangible Asset
-----------------------------------------------
by Simon Spence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
In the first of these articles I looked at the basics of brands
and the way a brand is separate from both the company and the
company's products. This week I'll take a closer look at Apple's
brand and the values behind it.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06902>
**Design Supports the Brand** -- Throughout Apple's history,
groundbreaking design has played a key role. The original
Macintosh bore little resemblance to the hulking IBM PC-
compatibles of the day, while other attempts to stand out - such
as the Macintosh TV and the Twentieth Anniversary Mac - were
unfortunately never meant to be mass market products. It was only
with the advent of the iMac and iBook after Steve Jobs's return
to Apple that style and design came to the forefront in Apple's
hardware products. In short, Apple's product design elegance in
both hardware and software plays an essential role in the
company's brand message.
It all makes a difference. Minimizing windows with smooth
animation in Mac OS X, the glossy white plastic used in the iPod
and iBook, the clever packaging that comes with all of Apple's
products - everything combines to support a message about the
brand. Simplicity, attention to detail, ease of use, creative
thinking, and an absence of jargon are all messages conveyed
through these products. Steve Jobs has said that Apple's position
in the computer industry makes it possible to design a product
from scratch. By controlling both software and hardware, Apple
can integrate their products more tightly, providing an advantage
over PC companies like Dell and Gateway. Even when Apple does
offer a cross-platform product, the PC version isn't as good.
Look no further than the iPod: the Mac version outshines its
Windows-compatible counterpart thanks to its tight integration
between the iPod hardware, the Mac OS, and iTunes.
Brand messages are supported by other aspects of the company's
activities as well. The first-time visitor to the Apple Web
site is left with an impression distinct to the Apple brand.
The site is clear and easily navigable, and it manages to avoid
clutter and technical terminology. Contrast this with the complex
and confusing Dell Web site. (Really. Open the links below in
two windows, and browse around a for a minute. You'll see
what I mean.)
<http://www.apple.com/>
<http://www.dell.com/>
With Apple, the impression you're left with matches the experience
of the product. Anyone who has received a new iPod will tell you
of the beauty of the packaging, its simplicity and attention to
detail tying in with the product itself. Buying from the Apple
online store, the purchasing experience, the packaging, and
finally the product itself and its functions, all fit into Apple's
carefully constructed brand promise. That's one of Apple's major
strengths - the company maintains its brand promise from the
customer's research phase on the Web site, through the online
store purchasing experience, and all the way to the point where
he or she unpacks and starts using the product. Arguably, the
Dell Web site risks leaving the consumer feeling bewildered by
the site's complexity. The relationship between the consumer and
the brand is of _necessity_ rather than attraction. Consumers may
use and find value at the site, but it is difficult to see how it
could appeal to them or inspire brand loyalty.
**Brands Go Deeper Yet** -- This element of promise conveyed by a
company's products and Web presence goes well below the surface.
Since the "1984" commercial (if you haven't seen it before, or
at least recently, it's easy to find a downloadable version) that
launched the Macintosh, Apple has overtly challenged convention.
The "Think Different" marketing campaign that Apple started after
Steve Jobs returned to the company asked consumers to step beyond
conventional wisdom that has resulted in 95 percent of computer
buyers looking no further than Windows on Intel-compatible
processors. Given its strong base in education and creative
content markets, where iconoclastic thinking is commonplace,
or at least admired, Apple's approach is correct.
<http://www.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/movies.html>
However, I would suggest that Apple's customers should not simply
be seen in terms of market segments. Apple's brand message is
actually focused on people of a particular outlook, and that may
or may not correspond with specific professions. This point is
important, because brands deal with people on a level of feelings
and instincts that goes beyond role and circumstance. The "1984"
commercial epitomizes rebelliousness and the chance for a fresh
start, smashing the status quo along with the Orwellian vision
of video-induced conformity. In an age when a desktop computer was
still a rarity, Apple offered the consumer "fire from the gods,"
giving the individual power and freedom that was at the time
nearly unimaginable. Such was the brand promise, and the Macintosh
delivered on that promise. Apple's brand has remained remarkably
consistent ever since, and that is, to a large degree, the secret
of Apple's long-term success. Products change quickly, technology
constantly evolves, but the message stays the same. Consistency
over time makes a strong brand, especially when it's supported
by fresh and contemporary ways of demonstrating the same attitudes
and brand promises.
During the early 1990s it could be argued that Apple stopped
rebelling and tried to compete with the PC world on the unfamiliar
ground of the corporate market. The company lost touch with its
origins, and only with "Think Different" in late 1997 did Apple
return to its beginnings and rediscover what made the company and
its products special. With its release in 1998, the original iMac
delivered on the promise of "Think Different." What most people
miss in all of this is that the suggestion Apple needs to sell
to the corporate market to succeed is flawed, because Apple's
carefully cultivated brand image will never appeal to the bean-
counters of the world. From a brand point of view, Apple sells
to the "Think Different" market irrespective of whether the
particular customer works in the corporate sector, in design,
in film production, or in education. Apple appeals to an
attitude choice and not a market segment. Market segmentation
is a conservative marketing tool that fails to recognise the
strength of brands working at a deeper level.
Of course, there were limitations in Apple's approach with "Think
Different." The message could inspire consumers, and it was a
call to reject conformity and bland establishment values. However
appealing it may have been to some people, that message was also
tremendously threatening to others. Choosing to think in a
different way could be risky, and Apple's attempt to make a
virtue out of difference could equate to isolation. Plus, the
brand promise of "difference" could translate into "incompatible"
to a potential purchaser. That's the downside of having a brand
as strong as Apple's - it can generate both positive and negative
instinctual reactions.
The new "Switch" campaign refocuses Apple's primary message
on ease of use and represents a new tone for Apple. "Think
Different" was necessary for Apple to re-establish their mark
of differentiation as a way of regaining lost confidence
amongst the Mac community. But that's done - Apple is now
a reinvigorated organisation and can move toward using more
subtle, less confrontational tones in attracting new users.
Less confrontational doesn't necessarily mean safer, however.
There's nothing wrong with pushing the view that it's easy
to switch to a Mac, but at the same time Apple must take
care not to blur the lines it has spent so long defining.
Consumers intuitively see through mixed messages, so Apple
must avoid suggesting that ease of switching is equivalent
to compatibility - doing so would damage all those years of
praising difference. It's a fine line to negotiate.
<http://www.apple.com/switch/>
Still, "Switch" carries a powerful message. Ease of use is as
relevant today as it was at the introduction of the Macintosh,
when the world realized there was more to computing than the DOS
prompt. "Switch" points to how much simpler it is to use a Mac, a
territory both Mac and PC users associate with the Apple brand.
Windows has never been able to make a strong claim to this space,
and Apple's promotion of new technology such as Rendezvous
promises new simplicity when it comes to complex computing tasks
(even if long-time Mac users know that in some senses Rendezvous
merely brings to TCP/IP what AppleTalk had provided all along on
the Mac). Apple needs to gain the confidence of potential buyers,
and since ease of use is a constant gripe for PC users, this new,
softer approach may produce results.
**Looking Toward Retail** -- As a brand, Apple is strong, and
the company's brand promise is currently matched by the user's
experience online, with Apple's products, and in marketing
campaigns. The main place where Apple's brand suffered was
in the retail space, where buying a Mac was often a frustrating,
unsatisfactory experience. In the final article in this series,
I'll focus on Apple's retail strategy and the role the Apple
retail stores play in confirming the brand in the mind of
the consumer.
[Simon Spence is head of research and information technology at
Alexander Dunlop Ltd., a brand consultancy working with
multinational corporations to define brand identity. He also
provides Mac consultancy to small businesses and educational
establishments in Ireland.]
$$
Non-profit, non-commercial publications may reprint articles if
full credit is given. Others please contact us. We don't guarantee
accuracy of articles. Caveat lector. Publication, product, and
company names may be registered trademarks of their companies.
This file is formatted as setext. For more information send email
to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. A file will be returned shortly.
For information: how to subscribe, where to find back issues,
and more, email <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. TidBITS ISSN 1090-7017.
Send comments and editorial submissions to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Back issues available at: <http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/>
And: <ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/issues/>
Full text searching available at: <http://www.tidbits.com/search/>
-------------------------------------------------------------------
