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Apple The Current Fastest Growing Brand
Will Stewart writes "According to Apple News, in a recently published report, Vivaldi Partners and Forbes magazine showed Apple has increased its brand value by 38 percent in the last four years, largely on the popularity of its iPod digital media device. Vivaldi Partners estimated Apple's overall brand value for 2005 at US$5.3 billion. Google and Blackberry tie for second, while Amazon is in fourth place. The ranking was determined by taking the compound annual growth rate of each brand over a period of the last four years."
I for one say kudos to Steve Jobs, and all of Apple on a job well done. Even though I don't use an Apple at the moment, I am very pleased that Microsoft's biggest competitor is doing well. Perhaps this will strike some fear into the folks over at Microsoft, encouraging them to reduce prices and improve their products. Now it just remains to be seen if Apple can maintain this level of growth.
- Just because we CAN do a thing, does not mean we SHOULD do that thing.
What a meaningful stat! I have nothing against Apple, but the whole idea of branding is pretty suspect.
From TFA: "They began their study by surveying chief marketing officers and consumers, asking them to identify brands they felt were both growing fast and being innovative."
Microsoft is neither of those.
Sorry, I don't usually respond to trolls, but if I recall correctly, it was IBM who could not keep up with the volume which Apple demanded of new G5 chips. While I don't believe that Intel will necessarily get everything together by this time next year, you must admit that Intel has much larger production capabilities than IBM, concerning the chips which Apple will most likely use.
Plus, even if the Intel deal turns out to be a bust - and it might, you never know - there will always be a devout Apple following and they always have the iPod, anyway. Apple has a nice-sized nest egg - they can deal with problems if Intel fails to come through.
Ohh, although it might be too close to judge, Apple is mentioned so much on Slashdot recently that it's a joke.
I remember the good old days when it was almost always about Linux and related Linux topics. The good stuff! Not just about the next thing from Some Big Company. And Apple IS a big company.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
blarg.
I know that it's due to the iPod, but lately I've been fielding a lot of questions from customers (even business customers) and other non-tech folks about Macs. Most are considering, for the first time, buying one. It's kind of a hunch but I think that they're moving beyond their usual market demographics.
I don't have one, but it will probably be the next computer I buy.
Because Apple and Google is used by journalists.
> I remember the good old days when it was almost always about Linux and related Linux topics. The
> good stuff!
It's News for Nerds, not Pander to Linux Hackers. Mac and Apple successes are big news. They are finally reaching their true geek shaping potential. Deal with it, or submit more interesting Linux articles.
jfs
The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
In many ways Apple's products are less performant speed-wise, but they are more elegant and polished. Think of it in terms of the auto world. People have always been willing to pay more for what they see as a more stylish alternative, especially when they don't have to get out and crank the motor to start it. The fact that they are able to provide these products while having only "the same level of problems as Dell" (something I dispute, but note that in any case Apple's customer support is much better) is why they're seen as the equivalent of a BMW and not an Alfa Romeo. Their style is the reason they're not seen as a Buick.
More importantly, style is hard to create, but easy to show - and to sell. Apple's ability to create a sense of style consistently gives it a tangible competitive advantage. Remember that Apple almost died when it tried to become another platinum corporate box in the early nineties. They started to forget their core advantages - style, elegance, ease of use, and polish.
That is all.
If you ask anybody who rides motorcycles, Harley (another top ten) is all about the experience. The motorcycles they put out are technically inferior in terms of performance and reliability, and arguably in terms of comfort. All this with a higher price tag.
Funny thing is, Harley makes next to no money per bike. The real money is in... merchandising merchandising merchandising. Seriously... at least in Milwaukee (hometown of Harley and of me) you see harley davidson apparel anywhere you go. The most common design for dog collars? Harley Davidson logo. Talk about selling "experience" rather than your actual product.
I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
"[...] I'm no business expert [...]"
Neither am I. But, hey, it's Slashdot.
The big thing that the iPod does is get Apple back in people's minds as a purchasing choice. Even if people aren't in the market for an iPod, they are hearing reports about this new Mac OS X thing. Without the success of the iPod, the press wouldn't be talking too much about Apple.
I like to use Sony as an example. Back in the 1970s, the average consumer had never really heard of Sony--except, perhaps, as a "Oh, they make those VCRs that don't work with anybody else." The product that put Sony on the map was the Sony Walkman. It got people to sit up and take notice and now, when Sony does something, people listen.
Of course, Sony isn't all powerful--if they were, we'd be listening to mini-discs--but the Sony brand gets reporters interested and they will report on things that the company is doing. People have heard good things about Sony and will consider a Sony purchase. Heck, why buy a Sony VAIO when you can buy someone else's PC? But people buy them.
Apple had a similar problem. Even if Apple did something great, most the computer press went "Ho hum, small market-share, won't run Windows, going out of business, nobody cares." The iPod got people to sit up an take notice of Apple's products. So now when Apple announces something like a new version of Mac OS X, it gets reported. I don't remember the press caring that much about Mac OS 9 when it shipped.
"Why buy an iPod when you can get a good player for much less money? Just because it's an iPod? Apple's share of the home computer market is still quite low, and I can see their share of the MP3 player market going in that same direction."
I'll be the first to admit, part of the reason people buy iPods is that they want an iPod--not an iRiver ZQX-379. They hear good things about iPods, so they buy them. This will change at some point in the future, but it won't be for a few years yet. Remember that Apple has sold something like 15 million iPods--and they've sold the most! So the market has plenty of room to grow. Once I see figures like a hundred million MP3 players sold, I'll start getting concerned about it.
Also, by the time that the iPod loses it's crown as the top selling MP3 player, Apple may have something else new and exciting to take up the slack. And the fact that it comes from Apple will actually be a good thing in many consumers minds.
Refresh my memory; when was Apple ever in charge? Even in the heyday of MSDOS, Macs were a small minority of the computer market. And back in the days when Apple IIs roamed the earth, nobody was "in charge" because there was no single dominant platform (though you could make a case for CP/M).
Spot on for the most part, but the thing about Steve Jobs is that he has an innate sense of taste. He obsesses about every small detail about his products, from the angles of the bevels on the Apple II case, to the layout of the 128k Mac's motherboard, to the inclusion of authentic fonts (Helvetica instead of Arial, Times instead of Times New Roman) in Mac OS X, to the precise shade of glass in Apple Store storefronts. So while he may be a great marketer and a great businessman--and I know some people who might dispute that last bit, actually--the important thing, and what earns him adulation, is his keen aesthetic sense that's unfortunately so rare in the rest of the industry. The fact that not everybody appreciates these things doesn't hurt the cultishness of his following, either.
Have you tried the punch yet? It's really good.