Big Al Shoots Down iPhone
Everybody’s doin’ it.
Jump off the bridge; go out and buy the new Apple iPhone, due to be released at the end of the month. Nineteen million Americans – about 9 percent of US mobile phone users – have expressed "strong interest" in purchasing the iPhone when it becomes available.
Combine this with Brandweek’s study that 46% of teens are fiercely loyal to brands – particularly Apple – with the iPod digital music player emerging as the top brand out of 47 tested that is "absolutely essential to teens." And they love their phones, don’t they.
Let’s inject some historical knowledge from Al Ries:
In the gold rush of 1849, prospectors checked their finds with Aqua Regia, a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids.
If a sample passed the acid test, it was the real thing. When Apple introduces its iPhone this month, will it pass the acid test?
In my opinion, no.
There’s nothing electric nor kool-aid about his (not-so-humble) opinion on why the iPhone will fail in his piece in Adweek fittingly titled "Why the iPhone will Fail." Al Ries, the branding strategest and author that is best known for his (recurring) work with Jack Trout on Positioning, is going ahead and saying out loud what we’re all secretly hoping: that the iPhone will be a major disappointment (Point 1) and that when it does fail, that (Point 2) the blame will fall on an imperfect execution, rather than a faulty concept. But just as multiple parentheses does not a sophisticated writer make, a prediction of failure from a(n) (in)famous marketing professional does not an Apple Empire destroy.
What will crumble that empire, though, as paraphrased by a reliable source, is Microsoft’s heft and reach across multiple technological product types. In the end, Apple will just not be able to compete, and everyone who remains "fiercely loyal" to the brand is going to get left wondering why they’re no longer the Coolest Kid Around. Let’s face it: Bigger is Better.
Or, rather: "from the Long Beach Chronicles to the Wall Street Journal, they all know the G with the cut in his coupe, ask Bill Gates (yeah I know the Homie Snoop.)"
