Had to go into the City late Thursday afternoon. It was raining, cold and dreary.
So I was somewhat surprised to see a line of people outside a telco store that extended around the corner and halfway down the block.
Then I remembered…
…at midnight the Apple iPhone 4 was launching in Australia.
You’ve got to hand it to Apple (and their telco partners), they know how to create buzz around their products…
…even when in this case there are known problems with th product.
“iPhone 4 lands at last, but stocks dwindle”.
Now, I confess that the whole Apple thing leaves me a little cold. For a long time my view was “Over-hyped, Over-priced”.
But, credit where credit is due.
Seems to me that Apple have done 2 things very well…
1. They’ve made their products very easy to use for the ordinary consumer; AND
2. There’s no doubt, they’ve succeeded in building and sustaining an aura of “Cool” around the brand and the products.
Plus, as we’ve seen, unlike most big companies, they understand how to build genuine buzz using the “Product Launch Formula” principles pioneered by Jeff Walker in the world of internet marketing.
Apple is, in my view, primarily a marketing company and it’s well worth keeping an eye on what they do.