Posts Tagged “Ries' Pieces”

Apple made their big yearly announcement today, coming down off Mt. Cupertino with the word from on high of new MacBook Pros and new iPhones. While the announcement was something of a mixed bag – a (very) few surprises, a lot of nice, new features, and one or two that didn’t make it into the products – overall it made for a pretty savvy media/marketing event. Nobody but Apple (even in the absence of Steve Jobs) can whip the faithful to a frenzy, not to mention get some serious ink by the mainstream media, like Apple can.

Earlier today, I read an editorial by marketer Laura Ries that reflected on the popularity of the iPhone. She offered that she’d originally believed that the iPhone would fail, because “convergence” is generally a bad idea, but owned up to the fact that the iPhone has been a success in spite of – not because of – it’s blending of a cell phone and a PDA. She then cited reasons she believed the iPhone took off (here’s a clue: “marketing”), and finished up by admonishing Apple to “keep it simple” and not continue to add functionality and features to the iPhone.

With all respect to a marketer that usually hits it out of the park, analysis-wise, I think she’s got a swing and a miss here. Here’s why… Read the rest of this entry »