“The new Mac OS X 10.4 operating system, aka Tiger, puts Apple Computer 18 months ahead of Microsoft and its cohorts, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, in delivering a better computing experience for most mainstream activities,” Forrester Research analysts Ted Schadler and Charles Golvin write for CNET News. “Apple’s improvements in the areas that matter most to consumers–safety, convenience, entertainment and simplicity–are facilitated by its use of open-source software. Alas, most consumers won’t be wowed immediately by innovations like the Spotlight dynamic search or four-way video chat because they aren’t driven to them from the outset. Next time, Apple should use movie-trailer-style promotions and interactive teaching tools to walk consumers through the benefits and features.”
Schadler and Golvin write:
Any consumer product–movie, automobile or operating system–must be promoted to put the benefits front and center in consumers’ minds. To pump up the virtues of its next operating system–and give consumers new reasons to buy a computer–Apple should (and Microsoft must):
• Use television spots and movie-trailer-style promotions to highlight the new benefits.
As Apple has learned with its iPod marketing, integrated marketing campaigns led by television spots can draw in large numbers of consumers. Apple should take this one step further with long-form or movie-trailer-style promotions that walk consumers through the key features and benefits.
• Build interactive teaching tools for each consumer scenario.
Once the operating system is fired up, consumers must also be led by the hand through its features. Apple should build interactive, high-definition and, probably, animated video tools to teach consumers how to use dynamic search or set up a four-way video chat or configure the computer so children will be protected online. Dedicate some of that video processing power to turning the computer into a self-help teaching tool.
Schadler and Golvin also cover a wide range of Mac OS X Tiger’s benefits and features in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple run TV spots for Mac OS X? Wonder how that would work? Movie-trailer-style promotions? Hmm, very interesting idea there. Let’s expand on that concept: Imagine a movie-trailer-length Mac OS X Tiger “show and tell” that runs before the next Pixar film and is also conveniently included on every Pixar DVD. It would be seen by many millions of people who today simply have no idea what Apple offers with Mac OS X. Couldn’t Apple’s CEO call up Pixar’s CEO and make something like that happen?
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Mac fans line up for new operating system as passberby asks ‘what is a tiger?’ – April 29, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime movies of Mac OS X Tiger features in action – April 13, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
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