TidBITS#645/02-Sep-02
=====================
Many people were dubious about the Apple Stores, but Apple has
continued opening new ones at a brisk pace. According to Simon
Spence, Apple's on the right track, because the Apple Stores
give the Apple brand tangible form. Also this week, we look at
welcome changes in Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar and note the releases
of Suitcase 10.1.3, Netscape 7, and the return of the Palm
Conduit for Entourage X. Note that next week's issue will be
published a day late.
Topics:
MailBITS/02-Sep-02
Interesting Bits of Jaguar
The Branding of Apple: The Retail Bridge
<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-645.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/issues/2002/TidBITS#645_02-Sep-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 Bradley Mohr,
Martin Gleeson, and Christian Kaatmann for their kind support!
<http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html>
* Small Dog Electronics: 15" G4 iMacs on Sale! <--------------------- NEW!
Factory Refurbished LCD iMacs: G4/700 with CD-RW: $1,199
G4/700 with Combo Drive: $1,299; G4/800 with SuperDrive: $1,459
All with 1 year warranties! <http://smalldog.com/> 802/496-7171
* DEALMAC: APC Back-UPS 500VA UPS for $55 shipped, $35 in stores. <-- NEW!
<http://dealmac.com/articles/40151.html?ref=tb>
DEALMAC: Cornea 18.1-inch LCD for $599 shipped.
<http://dealmac.com/articles/40153.html?ref=tb>
* UPGRADE YOUR TIVO! Get up to 300 recording hours in your TiVo. <--- NEW!
Our self-install kits come with everything you need, including
a pre-configured hard drive, tool, and specific instructions.
Best of all, no PC is required! <http://www.weaknees.com/tb/>
* SIX DEGREES: Automatically link messages, files and people so <---- NEW!
you can navigate through projects quickly. Leverage the power
of email by putting your inbox to work. Free trial version!
--------> <http://www.creo.com/sixdegrees/index.asp?id=tidbits>
* Back to School Sale on NoteWorthy Virtual Notecards: Only $59! <--- NEW!
Replace those 3x5 cards with a dedicated note-taking database.
Perfect for college students, writers or anyone doing research.
Save $30 for both Mac and PC! <http://www.intelli-gents.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------
MailBITS/02-Sep-02
------------------
**Next Issue One Day Late** -- Due to staff vacation, next week's
issue will be published Tuesday, 10-Sep-02, a day later than
usual. Needless to say, since we'll be short-handed it's entirely
possible some of our services will act up in the meantime, but
perhaps they'll behave if they know we're on to their little
games. [ACE]
**Netscape 7 Released** -- Netscape Communications has released
Netscape 7, a promising improvement to the now-underdog Web
browser. New in Netscape Navigator 7 is tabbed windows, which
enable you to load multiple Web sites within the same browser
window, plus overall performance improvements and bug fixes. Other
new features include persistent history that records visited URLs
across windows and sessions, a Download Manager that tracks all
your downloads in a single window (like Internet Explorer),
a Print Preview (though it doesn't redraw the preview to account
for scaling percentages), the capability to save a page as a
folder of files, a contextual menu feature that lets you start
a Web search for selected text, and update notifications of new
releases. The Netscape Mail component has also has much-needed
performance enhancements, a quick search for messages in a
mailbox, alerts of new mail, labels, easier filters, and more.
Netscape 7 is a free 19.2 MB download for users of Mac OS X,
or a 155K active installer for users of Mac OS 8.6 or 9.x (where
the eventual installation needs approximately 36 MB of disk
space). [JLC]
<http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/download.jsp>
<http://wp.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/ns7/relnotes/7.html>
**Extensis Releases Suitcase 10.1.3** -- Less than a week after
the formal release of Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, Extensis has brought
its Suitcase font-management software up to par with an updater
(see "A Quick Trip With Suitcase 10" in TidBITS-627_). Fixed in
this release is a Jaguar bug where, once Classic was started up,
Suitcase would become sluggish and refuse to quit. The Suitcase
10.1.3 updater is a 2.9 MB download, and is free to users of
Suitcase 10.0 or later. [MAN]
<http://www.extensis.com/suitcase/18h.html#jaguar>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06797>
**It's Baaack... Palm Conduit for Entourage X** -- After an
initial release and rapid retraction last July, Microsoft has
re-released its Palm conduit for Entourage X, enabling Entourage
X users to synchronize contacts, calendar items, tasks, and notes
(but not email) between Entourage X and Palm-compatible handheld
devices. We haven't yet tested this newest release and can't say
if it's any more reliable than the version Microsoft previously
withdrew, so (as always) back up your data before installing. The
conduit requires Microsoft Office X Service Release 1, Mac OS X
10.1 or later, and a Palm-compatible handheld with Palm OS 3.x or
later and Palm Desktop 4.0 or later. It's a 716K download. [GD]
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06878>
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/DOWNLOAD/OFFICEX/palmsync.asp>
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/DOWNLOAD/OFFICEX/OfficeX_SR1.asp>
Interesting Bits of Jaguar
--------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Last week's much-anticipated release of Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar
hasn't disappointed - Apple pulled out all the stops in improving
and adding to Mac OS X. Despite the $130 upgrade cost, over
100,000 people purchased Jaguar in the first weekend it was
available, a number Apple claims is a record for Mac OS sales
in a single weekend (though it undoubtedly includes all the
pre-orders placed up to that time as well).
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/aug/27jaguar.html>
We've all heard plenty about the major features of Jaguar so far -
iChat, Rendezvous, the system-wide Address Book, etc. - so in this
article, I'm instead going to take a quick spin through some of
the less-noticeable features that have gladdened our jaded eyes
here at TidBITS, plus a couple of installation tips that will save
you headaches and disk space. I'm sure we'll continue to discover
similar bits about Jaguar; if this article proves popular, we'll
continue collecting them for a sequel.
**Check Utilities Before Installing** -- A number of utilities,
most notably those that modify system behavior, are not compatible
with Jaguar. Be sure to check for updates to those utilities you
consider essential before upgrading. This has been a public
service announcement, brought to you by the same people who always
nag you about backing up before installing a major operating
system update.
**Archive Install** -- At the Select Destination step in the
Jaguar installer, the default button is Continue, which will put
you on a path to upgrading an existing Mac OS X installation.
However, reports from the Internet and our own experiences with
random application crashes indicate that it's worth the extra
effort to do a clean installation, something that Apple has
improved immensely since Mac OS 9. Click the Options button, and
in the sheet that appears, you're presented with three options:
Upgrade Mac OS X (the default), Archive and Install, and Erase and
Install. Choose Archive and Install, and click the Preserve Users
and Network Settings checkbox below it. Then click OK and continue
on with the installation. When the installer is done, you'll have
a Previous Systems folder at the top level of your hard disk, and
inside that, a Previous System 1 folder that contains all the
items the installer didn't merge into the new installation. Check
through that folder for items you don't want to delete; it does a
pretty good job, though it's not perfect at retaining everything.
On TidBITS Talk, Dan Frakes pointed us to an excellent article he
wrote for Macworld about particular places to check for files to
save. If you're a Unix-head, be sure to inspect the Previous
System 1 folder in the Terminal, since directories where you may
have been keeping stuff, such as /usr/local, are present but
invisible in the Finder. When you're done, you can toss the
Previous System 1 folder in the Trash; you can't toast the
enclosing Previous Systems folder without some fussing with
privileges.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkmsg=14997>
<http://www.macworld.com/2002/10/features/install.html>
**Save Disk Space with Custom Installs** -- Apple appears to be
doing an excellent job with localizing Mac OS X and applications
so people in at least some other countries can use the Mac in
their own language. But is there any point in installing localized
files if you don't read those languages? Plus, Apple installs
numerous printer drivers you likely don't need. You can save a
boatload of disk space by not installing all of these extras,
but you have to pay attention, since Easy Install gives you
everything, and it's too easy to start the installation without
realizing. In the Jaguar installer's Installation Type step, click
the Customize button, and deselect the appropriate checkboxes. One
note: I failed to do this on my first installation (for a variety
of testing purposes, I restored from my backup and reinstalled
Jaguar - I _strongly_ recommend a pre-Jaguar backup), and I
couldn't find a safe way to remove these items after the fact;
a tip I found about deleting all the .lproj files via a complex
Unix command looked as though it was going to delete far more
than was safe.
**Privilege Fixing Disk Utility in Installer** -- In the event of
trouble, it's always worth running the First Aid component of
Apple's Disk Utility. But it won't check the startup disk, which
can be annoying. Work around this by booting from the Jaguar
installation CD (Install Disc 1 - yes, that's right, Jaguar comes
on two CDs, or three, if you count the Developer Tools). Choose
Open Disk Utility from the Installer application menu at any
point, and you'll see that not only can you perform the usual
tasks, but also that Disk Utility's First Aid component can now
verify and repair privileges (which it calls "disk permissions,"
a surprising lapse for Apple, which almost universally uses the
term "privileges"). I suspect this code comes from Apple's
recently released Repair Privileges utility (now at version 1.1,
in case you previously downloaded the 1.0 version). Interestingly,
when I ran Verify Disk Permissions on my brand new Jaguar
installation, it found two errors in folders I couldn't have
touched. (Two other notes about functions available in the
installer: You can reset your password from the Installer
application menu, if necessary, but the Terminal menu item
was never available for me for unknown reasons.)
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106900>
**Adieu Happy Mac** -- As has been reported elsewhere, Jaguar
replaces the 18-year-old happy Mac startup icon with a gray Apple
logo. I'm not particularly surprised; as much as everyone was
accustomed to the happy Mac, it didn't fit in with the graphical
look Apple has taken such pains to present with Mac OS X and new
hardware. It's not as though any Macintosh has even looked like
the happy Mac for years, and the new look doesn't presuppose any
particular hardware design. Plus, Apple could easily change the
color of the Apple logo in the future - I wonder why they didn't
fill it with rendered jaguar fur. The other question is if the
sad Mac, whose presence announces the ominous news of hardware
failure, is still around, or if it's been replaced by a rotting
Apple logo with a worm crawling out. Probably not.
**Tired of Logging In?** Many people have complained about having
to provide their passwords to installers in Mac OS X. I'll happily
enter a password instead of being forced to reboot, as in Mac OS
9, but the frequent password prompts are annoying. Luckily, you
can turn them into reminders by making your password blank. You
can't do this with the Change Password button in Jaguar's new My
Account preference pane (where it claims your password must be at
least four characters long), but you can do it by editing your
user in the Accounts preference pane (it used to be called Users).
Once you've set your password to blank, you can dismiss password
dialogs merely by pressing Return. Needless to say, a blank
password is a huge gaping security hole with razor sharp edges,
so consider yourself forewarned. I wouldn't recommend doing this
on a machine that's always accessible from the Internet, and
I'd reset a password on a laptop before leaving home in case
it was stolen.
**Energy Saver Returns** -- The options in the Mac OS X Energy
Saver preference pane have never matched up to those in Mac OS 9's
Energy Saver control panel. But with Jaguar, much of that control
is back, so you can set different options for when your PowerBook
or iBook is running on battery power or is plugged into the power
adapter, and there's a checkbox that claims to reduce the
processor speed. Four different presets give you canned choices
for Highest Performance, Longest Battery Life, DVD Playback, and
Presentations, the first two of which provide the same settings
whether or not the laptop is plugged in. Personally, I'll be
setting my iBook to save power when using battery, and provide
optimal performance when plugged in. It's too soon to tell just
how well this additional control will help increase the battery
life of laptops on the road, but any improvement will be welcome.
One addition I'd like to see - an option to lower the screen
brightness automatically when using battery power, since my
experience is that's one of the major consumers of precious
electricity.
**Smooth Operator** -- Hidden away in Jaguar's General preference
pane is a new pop-up menu that lets you configure Mac OS X's font
smoothing style. It's worth checking this out, since the default
setting may not be ideal for your monitor (my iBook defaulted to
"Standard - best for CRT" for instance), and everyone has
different visual preferences.
**FTP in the Finder: Keep Trying, Apple** -- Jaguar is growling at
another class of software - FTP clients. That's because you can
now mount FTP servers as disks in the Finder, just like any other
network volume. Just type a full FTP URL like the one below into
the Connect to Server dialog (access it from the Go menu, or type
Command-K) and click Connect. If a username and password are
necessary, the Finder will prompt for them. Unfortunately, in
our testing, Jaguar can only get read access to FTP servers,
even if you add your userid and password to the FTP URL. Worse
yet, several of us have managed to lock up Jaguar completely
using this feature, so be careful. Finally, Jaguar's Finder FTP
client doesn't appear to work at all with Peter Lewis's elderly
NetPresenz FTP server, which is undoubtedly still in wide use
on older Mac servers. I'd recommend keeping your favorite FTP
client around for a while.
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/>
**In the Red with Force Quit** -- Two new tweaks related to
forcing applications to quit have appeared with Jaguar. First off,
if an application isn't responding, it appears in red in the Force
Quit Applications window (accessible from the Apple menu or by
typing Command-Option-Escape). It's a nice touch that simplifies
identifying the application you want to quit. Second, if an
application isn't responding, Control-clicking its icon in the
Dock presents a menu with Force Quit instead of Quit; previously,
you had to hold down Option while clicking the Dock icon to get
to the Force Quit menu item. One final tip that works in previous
versions of Mac OS X as well: after you've forced an application
to quit via the Force Quit Applications window, you can close the
window quickly by pressing Escape - it's easier than clicking the
tiny close window control.
**Classic Warning** -- Classic appears to work basically the same
as it has in the past (though it will likely prompt you to let
it update some items in your System Folder), with three notable
changes. It launches faster, a new Memory/Versions tab in the
Classic preference pane shows you the memory usage for each
Classic application (plus background processes), and you can now
set an option in the Classic preference pane to let you approve
each launch. No more watching Classic load when you didn't even
mean to launch it. (Classic isn't a serious CPU hog as long as
there aren't any Classic applications running, but if there are,
it can eat a hefty percentage of your CPU cycles.) Another piggy
application is Microsoft Word X, which munches CPU cycles whenever
it has open documents, so if you're not using a Word document,
close it to make extra CPU cycles available to other applications.
You can see what's happening by using Jaguar's improved Process
Viewer utility, which now shows proper names for Carbon
applications, thus eliminating the need to use the "top -u"
command in the Terminal.
**Window Layering Improved for Eudora** -- Possibly my favorite
change in Jaguar is a fix for one of Mac OS X's window layering
problems. In Eudora, if you Command-click a URL, it opens in a new
browser window in the background, a fabulous feature I use many
times a day. Or rather, a feature I used to use, since a bug in
Mac OS X resulted in a background window being drawn over all of
Eudora's windows, forcing me to switch processes manually to layer
the windows properly again. In Jaguar, this feature of Eudora
works correctly again. (If you're reading this using Eudora and
Command-clicking doesn't open browser windows in the background
for you, double-click the URL below and accept the prompt;
otherwise, you can copy and paste the URL into a Eudora message,
then double-click it. For more information on x-eudora-setting
URLs and a full list of them for Eudora 5.1.1, send email to
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.)
<x-eudora-setting:258=y>
That said, Eudora can have problems downloading graphics in HTML
messages when QuickTime 6 is installed, as it must be in Jaguar.
If you experience crashes in Eudora while downloading graphics,
turn off automatic downloading of HTML graphics in the Fonts &
Display settings panel and resist the urge to download them
manually. Qualcomm knows about the bug and is trying to fix it.
**Just Find It!** I've never been a fan of Sherlock. It provided a
slow and clumsy interface for finding files, and I always found
its channels harder to use than just going to the appropriate Web
site or search engine. I'm reserving judgement on Sherlock 3,
which is similar to the more-capable Watson, but the excellent
news is that Jaguar gives us back the old Find utility for finding
files. It's simple, focused, and sprightly, plus it can have
multiple results windows. Multiple criteria are available, and it
can limit searches to Everywhere, Local disks, Home, and Specific
places (which you can add by dragging folders in from the Finder).
Find is available from the Finder's File menu; you can also of
course type Command-F to activate it.
<http://www.karelia.com/watson/>
I also like the new Search field in Finder window toolbars, which
enables you to search the contents of the currently selected
folder, and all its sub-folders. However, it only shows up as a
field only if the toolbar is set to display either Icons & Text
or just Icons - if you've set toolbars to show only Text, you
get a Search button that launches the Find utility. To change
the display style, select Customize Toolbar from the Finder's
View menu, and adjust the Show pop-up menu.
**Sharing is Good** -- With Jaguar, Apple has significantly beefed
up the Sharing preference pane, which previously let you start and
stop file sharing, personal Web sharing, FTP access, remote login,
and reception of remote Apple Events. All that is still available,
but Apple has added Windows File Sharing (via SMB) and Printer
Sharing for sharing all the printers your Mac can see. One tip:
To share printers with Mac OS 9 machines, Apple claims you'll
need to use Printer Sharing under Classic - setting it up in
Jaguar won't work. Two other tabs in the Sharing preference
pane let you configure Mac OS X's built-in firewall and Internet
sharing, better known by its previous name, Software Base Station.
Both offer only basic configurations, but they should suffice for
most people (and if you need more from your firewall, check out
the $25 shareware Brickhouse).
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=1733+1734>
<http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/brickhouse.html>
**Get Info Returns** -- Mac OS X's Show Info window has long been
an annoyance, thanks to its refusal to let you open more than one
instance of the window (making it hard to compare multiple files).
Also bothersome was the pop-up menu you had to use to switch among
the five different informational panels. Jaguar takes a swipe at
Show Info, renaming it Get Info, restoring our ability to open
multiple info windows to compare files, and giving the Get Info
window five different disclosure triangles so you can show only
the informational panels that interest you. However, it works a
bit differently from the way Get Info worked in Mac OS 9. When
multiple items are selected, Mac OS 9 would open a Get Info window
for each one, whereas Jaguar opens a single Get Info window with
combined information. To compare files, you must open a Get Info
window for each one individually.
PayBITS: Did these tips save you hours of unnecessary work?
Show your appreciation to Adam with a few bucks via PayPal.
<http://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=ace%40tidbits.com>
Read more about PayBITS: <http://www.tidbits.com/paybits/>
The Branding of Apple: The Retail Bridge
----------------------------------------
by Simon Spence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
In last week's article, "The Branding of Apple: Apple's Intangible
Asset," I looked at Apple's brand and what sort of reactions it
evokes from consumers. In this final installment I move on to look
at how the Apple brand is shaped by the consumer's interaction
with the product, especially by the purchasing experience in
retail stores.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06919>
Last week's article discussed how Apple's brand promise - the way
it attempts to portray itself through commercials, its Web site,
its products and packaging and so on - has resulted in a strong
brand that can evoke a range of reactions from different
consumers. Overall, Apple has managed to build a clear perception
of what the company's brand represents. As I suggested in the
first of these articles, "The Branding of Apple: Brands Embody
Values," a brand is a mix of what the company would like us to
think of their products and how we receive and interpret these
messages. Perception, the way in which consumers, developers,
and the media see the company, completes the brand picture.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06902>
**The Retail Link** -- Although Apple has done a good job creating
its brand image, there was one major gap which threatened the
delivery of this message to the consumer. Until 2001, Apple found
that the final link for many people, the retail experience, fell
well short of the brand promise. The crafting of beautiful
equipment, the attention to detail that went into the design,
and the simplicity and ease of use of the end product were usually
overlooked when a consumer walked into a computer store and faced
poorly displayed goods, not to mention untrained or even hostile
sales assistants.
For Apple, asking a consumer to buy into the idea of thinking
different is a challenge. I wonder what proportion of consumers
toy with the idea of purchasing a Mac, only to change their mind
at the last minute due to incorrect advice or perhaps just the
fact that they are unwilling to take a leap into the unknown?
Never underestimate the importance of the point of sale as a
part of a brand's success! Coca-Cola and Pepsi constantly vie
for shelf placement in stores to ensure that their brand has the
best position, and it's absolutely standard for companies to pay
stores for so-called "end cap" positions on the ends of shelves.
Put bluntly, the merchandising of a product can have a huge
effect on whether or not a consumer even considers it in their
purchasing decision.
In its advertising, Apple challenges and inspires consumers and
then offers integrated solutions through its products. "Think
Different" was a call for a leap of faith to those who had not
used Macs, and even now, "Switch" requires from users a change
of allegiance and a change of mindset. Explaining your purchase
of a Macintosh to a PC user is a more difficult obstacle to
overcome than explaining buying a Dell or a Compaq.
For the most part, buying a Windows-based PC is seen as a
functional transaction, made purely to fulfill the consumer's
computing needs. In contrast, and despite the practical benefits
of using Macs, purchasing a Mac makes a lifestyle statement.
Buying a new iBook in a world of Sony, Dell, Toshiba, and the
other PC laptop producers sets the consumer apart, and for many
not versed in the ways of a Macintosh, that decision requires
a leap of faith.
**The Point of Point of Sale** -- Purchasing, and the user
experience in making this transaction, is paramount. If, having
decided to buy a Mac, a consumer is faced with Mac-hostile sales
assistants or a bewildering set of reasons why a Windows PC would
be a better choice, an already difficult decision becomes even
more difficult. How many potential users were made to feel
stupid for asking about Macs at their local stores?
This is one of the most important reasons why Apple's retail
strategy in the U.S. is correct. It helps convey a legitimacy
on the decision made by consumers who have decided they want a
Mac. The very presence of an Apple Store supports the choice of
buying a Mac by making Apple, and all that is promised by the
Apple brand, feel tangible and solid. That storefront tells the
consumer, "You are not the only one," an important message, since
being a Mac user can be lonely, especially if you are not working
in a Macintosh-dominated area like education or graphic design.
For a long time the committed Macintosh user had been enthused by
messages of thinking in different creative ways, challenging the
status quo, and rebelling against a world of Windows. However,
many of us also had a feeling of being pushed on stage and left
out there to perform alone! Without a tangible retail presence
the Apple brand, as distinct from the company, felt slightly
fluid. For anyone outside of Cupertino, there were few examples
of a firm presence to point to and say, "There's Apple." The
Apple Stores link the brand to the consumer directly to avoid
misinterpretation and distortion. Those stores make the promise
of the Apple brand tangible.
The physical location and design of the Apple Stores also play a
significant role in supporting Apple's brand. They're all located
in high traffic shopping malls and districts, and even the people
who just walk by them are exposed to Apple's design aesthetic.
It may take time, but that exposure adds up. Plus, once you get
inside, all the lines are clean, with light wood and lots of light
illuminating the products. Shelves aren't overflowing, everything
is well-organized, and, to borrow a term from graphic design,
there's plenty of white space so the eye isn't overwhelmed. Plus,
there's a theatre in every store for regular presentations
about Apple's products. Just as with all the other ways Apple
communicates with the public, the Apple Stores have become an
essential piece of the brand puzzle.
<http://www.apple.com/retail/>
In contrast, conventional computer stores such as CompUSA and Best
Buy design their premises around their own brand identity, while
still attempting to present a multitude of brand images. They're
crammed with products, it's tricky to find what you want, and
signs constantly assure you that the prices are as low as they're
going to get. Apple products don't fit into these stores well,
and they never will - the mismatch between Apple's brand promise
and what these stores offer is simply too great. Apple's "store
within a store" concept aimed at addressing this drawback by
controlling a section of retail space. However, the new Apple
Stores act as pure Apple space, in branding terms, uncontaminated
by rival products which detract from the central message.
For proof of their efficacy, look no further than Apple's "100
Minutes of Jaguar" launch event. In under two hours, over 50,000
people visited the 35 Apple Stores. That's a lot of traffic, and
had Apple continued to rely on other computer retailers, such
events would been either impossible or poorly attended.
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/aug/27jaguar.html>
**Brand versus Commodities** -- Dell, IBM, Compaq, and Gateway
(despite Gateway's recent ads attacking the iMac) don't command
nearly such power in terms of distinct brand awareness. A Compaq
style of behaviour and the emotions evoked by the Compaq brand
are firmly linked to Microsoft. Compaq can't legitimately claim
that they are innovative or alternative in the PC market because
the user experience would not match these claims, and consumers
would instinctively notice the mismatch. Because these companies
have no control over the operating system and spend little on
research and development (or even on design, amazingly enough
at this point in history), they have little control over the
reactions user experience elicits from consumers. They can't
capture the consumers' imagination in the way that Apple can.
All that's left to them is to focus on price, value, function,
and service - the PC has become a commodity.
The power of the Apple brand, and in turn the perception of it,
is that Apple can say they are different and deliver on that
promise. In deciding on a computer, the consumer is asked to
believe in the brand, to buy into a style or an attitude. Not
everyone will want to do that, since many people prefer to fit
in or stay well behind the cutting edge. However, Apple uniquely
owns this territory in the computer market and it's an invaluable
part of the Apple brand. Thanks to the Apple Stores, Apple can
bridge that final gap between brand and consumer and no longer
be reliant on third-party translation of the messages they are
trying to deliver.
PayBITS: Did Simon's three-part series give you new insight
into Apple? Why not thank him with a few bucks via PayPal?
<http://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=simon%40alexanderdunlop.ie>
Read more about PayBITS: <http://www.tidbits.com/paybits/>
[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/>
-------------------------------------------------------------------