Friday, September 21, 2012

Apple, Obama and Likeyness

So the iPhone 5 is out and people are once again standing in line to get one. Apple received two million pre-orders in 24 hours and expects to sell 6.5 million units this weekend alone. Sales that are the envy of many product manufacturers/retailers to be sure and designs/appearances that outpace the competition.

Who are these clamoring masses of Apple groupies and why do they gleefully pay a premium for their beloved devices when other brands of Smart phones provide as many, or more features for better prices?  Why Apple?  Well I’m sure there are detailed consumer profile reports out on the internet dissecting the psyche of the Apple buyer. But my shortcut answer: Apple is Cool and if cool is high on your priority list, if you can’t live without being thought of by others as cool, if you must be one of the beautiful people, there’s apparently only one choice. Money be damned. Competing features be damned. Full speed ahead, Admiral, and damn the Jones; we’ll leave those suckers in our wake.

From a 2008 Metafacts brochure advertising their Apple user profile report for that year:

Apple's customers are like no others — a rich blend of the most sociologically elite with those seeking elegant, simple computing. Apple's panache has enabled them to maintain some of the highest margins in the industry, while also sustaining a brand loyalty level which is the envy of many.
 
… Apple's users have a unique profile in the ways they use their personal computers. Unlike users of Intel/Windows computers, a significant portion of Apple's users are active, exploratory, avant-garde and early adopters. The activities they enjoy are unique in the way that they more-often incorporate rich media such as video and music as well as more-active procurer behavior than many more-passive Windows users.
 
And of course what does Apple have in common with our current President? Well, the coolness factor of course. Obama is an Apple while Romney is a Droid. Obama/Apple have got coolness locked up – copyrighted in fact. And Coolness = Likeyness. The American consumer cannot resist Likeyness. In America, Likeyness is a winner.
 
“Obama supporters are like no others – a rich blend of the most sociologically elite with those seeking elegant, but otherwise empty, leadership.”
 
November 6, 2012 – the Likeyness Election is Coming to a Polling Place Near You.

1 comment:

Gringo said...

Offhand I think of three Apple users I know, none of whom are particularly adept at computers etc, but all of whom are yellow dog Democrats. Perhaps one is cool, but two others are definitely not.One Apple owner does not have a cell phone.

I stopped using Apples in the university lab in the 1990s when they crashed all the time. PCs did not crash, so I stayed with PCs.

Apparently the POTUS is not up with the latest i-phone doodads. We have something in common.