“You readers are pretty well connected and you don’t need a TV campaign to know that Tiger exists. In fact, any Mac user who spends a little time pouring over the news pages on the Internet ought to be fairly well informed on the subject. The fact that even Windows-oriented publications cover Tiger doesn’t hurt,” Gene Steinberg writes for The Mac Night Owl.
“But there are far too many out there who never read the technology pages, watch technology segments on TV or read computer magazines,” Steinberg writes. “Most of them own PCs running Windows. How are they going to know that Apple has a brand new operating system? How will they know that it offers features that are still pipedreams on the Windows platform, and won’t appear until Longhorn is released, and maybe not even then?”
“Will they discover the Mac or Mac OS X simply by watching dancing stick figures dancing and prancing while listening to iPods? I don’t think so. But as I said, I don’t know all that much about marketing,” Steinberg writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If Apple blows their current “Windows” of opportunity by not educating the general public about Mac OS X Tiger’s capabilities, they have only themselves to blame for not grabbing new users. Apple’s continued silence on TV, in print, and elsewhere about their Mac products could rival some of the company’s biggest blunders. We have absolutely no idea why Apple is not advertising the Mac. It’s simply unconscionable and Apple shareholders should be appalled and demanding answers.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple should hold ‘The $1,000,000 Apple Macintosh Ad Contest’ – May 04, 2005
Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime movies of Mac OS X Tiger features in action – April 13, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Mac fans line up for new operating system as passberby asks ‘what is a tiger?’ – April 29, 2005
Apple should advertise.. theya re working on it.. you cant stop the revolution!
Just a guess, but I think Apple may be holding off until it can deliver something like iTunes for HD movie downloads that will only work for Macintoshes -something other than just an OS to drive computer sales.
Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking.
Maybe they think that their commercials have not been effective.
I suggest that they get rid of their spokesperson for the G5 commercials. (The Fly Guy)
How about a commercial featuring positive quotes about the mac mini and Tiger from prominent editorials like they do when showing previews of movies. They could incorporate cool features of their products.
The Fly Guy – that’s Jeff Goldblum. I agree that they should dump him for a better voice.
This is the golden opportunity Apple needed to promote their new OS and hardware!
Apple should be advertising, drilling into people minds that the Mac is a better solution to their computing needs. Just word of mouth can only take you so far! An advertising campaign even with something as anoying as the “Dell dude”, or maybe something else entirely, but something that’s catchy and in as many media outlets as posible. Apple you have a YEAR maybe more or advantage before Micro$oft releases Foghorn, use this time wisely!!!
Who knows, rumors say that a new advertising campaign is coming. Now that they have the Mac mini (and the high price myth has been shattered for good) there is no excuse for not advertising Macs and OS X heavily. Let’s hope Apple gets moving on this by the summer.
Apple’s advertising in the UK is non-existant while ever ad-break is plagued with that annoying intel inside jingle :-((
We were saying the same before the G5, and then before the new imac, mini, and tiger. Maybe if we shut up Steve will open his purse and advertise a bit, while he claims it was his bright idea.
Maybe Steve thinks that the Apple retail stores, the iPod phenom, and word-of-mouth advertising are enough.
MaWo: “woman”. As in, ‘Whoa, man. Is Apple ever going to make people aware of the benefits of using a Mac over everything else or not??? People are often like little children; they need to have things explained to them.’
Most people are clueless about Apple. They need to advertise.
Speaking as someone in the biz, I’m guessing there may be a couple of reasons for Apple’s lack of advertising: they may still be ramping up production of the Mini (creating demand and then not being able to supply product would be a disaster). And they may be waiting for us Tiger early adopters to report the bugs in the new OS before they advertise it to Mom and Dad.
That being said, there’s absolutely no excuse to not advertise this stuff. The products are brilliant, and they certainly have the cash to do it.
Be careful what you wish for. It may may be that this is a ‘brilliant’ strategy. To have consumers purchase products or adopt a pltform from word of mouth is more stable than through advertising. If I tell a friend about OS X and convince that person it is a good choice – that is much stronger than a Commercial doing the same thing. My friend is more likely to stick with it if the refernce came from word of mouth over a tv spot.
Let it be. I do not want this thing to turn into a Windows fiasco – however I would like more support (that happens when market share increases).
Or wait until they release OS-X on Intel one week before Longborn.
RJ
cedreca: “Just word of mouth can only take you so far!”
Actually, don’t ever underestimate the potential of word-of-mouth advertising. It is almost always MORE effective than any paid-for or concocted advertising campaign because it’s guaranteed to hit the talking points (pun intended) that speak to people most effectively. There’s little that can compete with the recommendation of someone a person respects, or the leading-by-example of seeing someone you like using a product, or even the general buzz that occurs when people gather in certain social situations and notice a trend among acquaintances or friends once-removed.
I think that once Apple has its ducks even more in a row than they are right now — Mac mini shipping full-bore, Tiger at maybe 10.4.2, iPod-style cell phone available — you will see a push of some kind in the media for OS X as well as the mini. But I wouldn’t expect it to be what we anticipate.
Word of mouth advertising is some of the best, but in this case I think taht more is needed. Word of mouth for ipods was huge cause people carried them around with them and people would ask “whoa what’s that”
with a mac, you arent carrying it around and you arent just going to randomly start talking to your friends about how awesome macs are out of nowhere.
Whilst I have the utmost admiration for Steve Jobs his arrogance can sometimes get in the way of quality business decisions
One example is to get rid of a publisher’s books from all Apple stores because of a critical biography. That’s bad publicity.
Another is Apple’s decision to sue websites who made the mistake of acting like journalists in scooping Apple on the news of some of their products. That’s also bad publicity.
My point is that Steve Jobs IS Apple and if the company fails to launch a worldwide campaign to publicise its products then the buck will stop with the man who is paid a buck. And that would be because of no publicity.
Here’s an ad idea:
Just show Tiger’s RSS Screen Saver, set to Apple’s “Hot News” feed (or, rather, a slightly doctored version that highlights all the favorable Tiger reviews we’ve been seeing from the Tech industry lately). 25 seconds of that, then the camera pulls back as a kid (with eager friends?) wakes her iMac, quickly checks in with some widget on Dashboard, then gets to work on her next great iMovie production or Keynote presentation … or, heck, a Quartz Composer project featuring equally snazzy graphic effects. Fade to logo.
Perhaps a series of ads, with the news feeds featuring some particular aspect of Tiger (or an iApp), When the Mac wakes, the user begins using that aspect … Spotlight, Dashboard, Parental Controls, etc.
You’d get the attention-getting eye candy (reproducible by the user!), some facts and industry opinion, and a snippet of a demonstration.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Apple has a big surprise in store for getting the word out to the masses. They’re just waiting for the right moment to begin.
Far be it from me to second guess what it is. But if they don’t, and they miss this uniquely golden opportunity they will live to regret it — big time!
I just hope that whatever they come up with will be powerful, unique and very informative (no silly stuff) and yet humble enough not to offend their target — the Windows users.
repeat: all money budgeted for apple advertising has been moved over to mac retail stores to prop them up and make profitable.
there is no ad money available – it has already been spent in the retail stores for signs, people, lights, rent, etc.
the store is the apple ad.
I had been thinking about this for a bit and bsceptor’s post made me think some more.
Apple has always had a bit of a problem keeping up with demand. How many of us had the unfortunate task of waiting six or more weeks before we could put our hands on the Mac of our dreams after shelling out the dough for it. A huge national campaign for the Mac would only exascerbate the problem. Instead of a few thousand impatient people calling the Apple hotline, it would be tens of thousands. There might be an awareness that the Mac has not reached critical mass for a huge campaign.
That said, Apple needs to open the spigot and get Macs on the market in speculation, rather than to order. If you make it, advertise it, and they will buy it.
MDNMW: Brown – as in: What can brown do for you? DELIVER MY G@DDAMN MAC ON TIME!
Apple has over $7,000,000,000 in a big pile and is a debt-free company. WTF are they waiting for?! Jobs, pull the trigger on the ad blitz already!
I dont recall M$ ever advertising Windows back in the days … and look at them now.
Henry, Microsoft pitched windows with zeal back in the day, they had balmer selling the thing like it was a used car. Check it out:
http://www.unoriginal.co.uk/footage26_4.html
It is awful but it was pitched.
Some people think Apple should shut up and not advertise, clueless blogger of the moment:
http://applematters.com/index.php/section/comments/please_apple_not_another_switch_campaign/
I have nothing to add, except to agree that Apple should advertise. If I had a little more time, I might even put together my own commerical, edited in iMovie, of course.
Magic word: “hell”. As in “At work I deal with forty Macs and four PCs, and for the last week I’ve been in Windoze hell!”
The Apple advertising agency must be a full of moles from Microsoft. If they’re not, then they are truly pathetic. Take your rich finger out Stevie boy.
commerical,
> I might even put together my own commerical, edited in iMovie, of course.>
NOT AGAIN!!
Apple=6 billion in cash reserve
Micro$in=50 billion + in cash reserve
Who is gonna win if they get in a marketing battle over which OS
appears better.
Noone wants Apple to advertise more than I do, but looking longterm,
Win$in will win any marketing war even with less impressive eye candy because they can sustain the long term cost of planting seeds in people’s heads for a much longer period of time.
Marketing costs affect R&D costs for Apple. Micro$in has no real R&D to begin with except for the X Box.
Apple is small and versatile and rich without winning some war against a company that makes their money on software, when Apple makes their majority on hardware while providing a super OS and great software as incentive. Sure, I think Apple should advertise their OS, but I see their point that as much as they advertise, Win$in can quadruple the amount, and Apple knows this and spends their money elsewhere.
We are all guilty of comparing an apple to an orange as far as where the profits come from.
>they may still be ramping up production of the Mini (creating demand and then not being able to supply product would be a disaster).>
You may be correct, I ordered a new iMac 5 minutes after they were announced. All I see on the shipping schedule is…In manufacturing. Shipping schedule–On or before the tenth, which is today.
I wish people would stop complaining about Apple’s lack of advertising – it’s not going to make the ads come any faster. I think Apple will advertise eventually – but not one minute before they feel the timing is right.
What if Apple has a PowerBook G5 nearly ready to go at WWDC? Do you think they’re going to advertise the PB G4 now? Hell no! Like other people have said, they may wait a short while to fix the Tiger bugs before a massive ad campaign. It could be soon-to-be-released hardware or software. It could be a brand-new device. It could just be timing.
There have been so many articles about this topic, that I feel we should just sit back and wait. If it’s going to come, it’s going to come. If not, there’s not much we can do about it.
Also, just in case anyone doesn’t remember: Apple has advertised iMovie, iTunes, iDVD and iPhoto. All with ads (especially iPhoto and iDVD) that showed off how easy it was to use the product. How did that effect marketshare? I will acknowledge one big difference between now and then – the economy is not in decline. This should help out in Apple’s favor.
If you remember something Steve said throughout the economic downturn (I’m paraphrasing) ‘We’re going to innovate our way through this downturn’ and then he said something about benefiting from this investment.
The past four years has been a lot of work for Apple and regardless of what people think of Steve – he knows what he’s doing. IMO: If people were paying attention to the little details (rather than whining about so many iPod ads) they would realize that the Mac has ALWAYS been important for Apple, they’re just using the iPod to increase corporate brand recognition. With that in place, I’m confident that they’ll soon be ready to capitalize on this.
They’re good times ahead, people. It just takes time.
I have to wonder why people look at income and revenue when comparing Apple to Microsoft and deciding a winner.
A perfect example is iTunes vs. MSN Music.
So many people were saying that Apple has met their match with MS and so far, that hasn’t come to pass.
Not only that, but with MS having so many problems with their OSes (both XP and Longhorn) Apple should have an upper hand. Money isn’t everything.
iTunes vs. MSN Music
iPod vs. Dell DJ
iPod vs. Sony Network Walkman
I know it’s not a fair comparison (because the competitors suck) but it just proves that money isn’t everything.
Something to think about (especially for those who don’t appreciate the Apple marketing strategy as it exists) — Apple’s cash cache is growing steadily (and has been for years). If that’s the result of their supposedly mishandled marketing strategy, then just really how smart are all those “experts” who seem to know what Apple is doing wrong?
bikersrule: I think you should read this before claiming “acting like journalists in scooping Apple on the news of some of their products.”
http://daringfireball.net/2005/03/new_york_times
http://daringfireball.net/2005/03/nyt_credibility
http://daringfireball.net/2005/03/discovery_ruling
I don’t think many traditional journalists would publish information that came from people who were breaking NDAs.
Apple can’t compete with Dell, Gateway, et. al. on price, so it would be pointless to try and take them on. Plus Apple as of now has virtually NO presence in the retail market outside of the Apple stores and Best Buy. What happens when those people who see the commercials and want an Apple computer find out that there’s practically nowhere they can go to BUY an Apple computer? Ah yes, the numbers:
Best Buy locations: 622
Walmart/Sam’s locations: 3500+
If you limit your search to just those retailers, you are over 5 times more likely to find a store that sells Wintel than you are to find a store that sells Apple.
My point: Apple isn’t in a position to pull off a huge marketing campaign. They don’t have the distribution and it’s doubtful that they have the supply. Promising something you can’t deliver to a national audience would be suicidal.
God: “you cant stop the revolution!”
The Revolution will not be advertised.
“If that’s the result of their supposedly mishandled marketing strategy, then just really how smart are all those “experts” who seem to know what Apple is doing wrong?”
Typically, they’re not too smart at all.
One thing I think people are forgetting about Apple’s lack of ads during the past few years is that there was a worldwide economic downturn. Fewer people were buying computers (from all manufacturers). Instead of advertising computers fewer people were buying, Apple spent it inwardly on R&D (Hardware, Software and technology) as well as Apple Retail. Now that the economy is picking up again, the company is well positioned to take advantage of their hard work and advertise once more.
This statement drives home my point:
When this thing [the economy] turns around, we are going to be in a great place,” he said. -Steve Jobs; annotated by me.
http://itmatters.com.ph/news/news_07192002f.html
Dear Macnut222,
You’ve made a good point, but it doesn’t alter my overall point that Apple needs to advertise.
To beatsme:
You forgot about CompUSA – which has the ‘store within a store’ for Apple.
There are tons of people out there that don’t even know what a Mac is. They need to be educated that there is an alternative out there.
It’s a snowball effect – the more people start recognizing macs and what they can do, the more people will consider switching.
The Apple Stores, iPods and personal recommendations can only hit a small group. Apple needs to make everyone aware what they have and why computing can be fun again.
They shouldn’t advertise. They don’t have the product in channel to fulfill any demand that the ads would create. They can barely keep up with the word of mouth advertising and the repeat buyers. Remember, this is the same company that just last year stopped producing a computer model (iMac) during the busiest time of the educational year.
They need logistics support and better demand forecasting tied in with s stronger third party retail presence. Until then why advertise.
The fact that they have no competition means they don’t have to advertise either.
i like jeff goldblum!
when he’s not being chased by dinosaurs he’s endorcing macintosh… whats not to love?
APPL doesn’t need to advertise. The spam, virus, and spyware authors are doing a better job than any ad agency could. Apple will double it’s marketshare in the next year.
Instead of Golblum, get Will Smith to do the scene from Independence Day. You know, whre he flies the alien craft for the first time and says, “I gotta get me one of these.”
At least in the US, Tiger had major media coverage – essentially all free – that is a couple HUNDRED million dollar campaign right there. And better because it’s perceived as news. Sure, some of the coverage is flawed but mindshare is the first thing.
Of the hardcore computer users, I’ll bet Tiger’s awareness is around 95% – except for those wintering in Antartica … even for Pc users who never intend to switch, they know about it.
The only remaining group of people are potental switchers. And frankly, OS advertising is what do you really say in :30 seconds? More importantly, it’s what will dazzle people? And I’ll bet 50% of anybody you reach will NOT believe you. They think they’ll have to be some computer wizard to get that to work – like those prints you see at the computer store printers – how come mine don’t look like that? (it would help if you’re not using a $70 Walgreen’s camera and you’re not photograing ugly relatives in a cavern). People just shrug it off because they think they can’t pull that off – just look at what MS Windows ads promise you – literally, the moon. So, you’re basically spend up to $100 million to tell thems omething they think is the Matrix. If you do the math of that over 5 million computers, would’ve you rather Apple R&D that or something else?
Apple should run ads telling peoople to go the stores to see Tiger in action but beyond that, the best advertusing is word of mouth. Do you go to movies because of newspaper reviews? Or do you trust a person you know more? Same thing.
OS advertising now is like advertising for cheese or plastics – it makes the ad agencies & Tv stations happy and the cheese & plastic makers feel like they’re doing something but the reality is – after watching the ad for plastics industry – do you feel like buykng a lot of plastic? Intel shells out billions to pay for Pc ads, tat’s why all Pc ads end with the Intel swirl (and musical tag – created on a Mac BTW).
Snarky! ahaha
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ipodlounge: http://backstage.ipodlounge.com/index.php/backstage/comments/backstage-apples-silence-on-tiger-and-macs-a-good-move/
ya gotta love it. lol
I am a little bummed about Apple not advertising too but I have to agree with the folks who say that it is a matter of timing. I think that once the early adopter bugs are squashed out of Tiger, and the Mini gets 512MB RAM standard, then they will do the big push. Probably bundle iTunes 5.0 (renamed to iMedia, or something like that?) and maybe a trade-in program of some sort. Who knows.
In the meantime however, I wanted to capitalize on the buzz surrounding the iPod and Tiger. So I made some nice reversable banners for the rear window of my car. They are about 5 inches high and 3 and 1/2 feet across (they span my entire rear windshield). I created and printed them in Illustrator using tiled pages… then used spray adhesive to mount them to matte board. I then took 2 pencils and wrapped them in black electricians tape, stuck a couple of push-pins in them, and tied the banner to the pencils with pieces of black wire. Then I insert the pencils with the banner attached into those baby car seat anchors behind the headrests of the back seats. A little extra tape wrapped around the bottoms of the pencils helps to hold them in place.
Here is what they say:
“The World’s Most Advanced Operating System.” – there is a centered white Apple logo near the top. On one side of the text is a tiger’s head (in greyscale) and on the other the brushed aluminum X.
“Mac mini – $499… Excuses – Zero” On either side there are images of the mini… the one with the hands, and the “hero” view with the DVD coming out. Centered Apple logo of course.
“Twice the RISC, twice the reward.” Across the top it says Dual Processor Power Mac G5… and under that in a small font lists the specs… FSB, CPU, storage, Mac OS X Tiger, etc.
So, I am doing my part.
Once the ads start rolling I will remove the banners. As it stands now I rotate them every 2 weeks or so… just to give the commuters something new to look at when they are heading into Boston.
Jon W. Barto
Apple needs to advertise Macs to the masses. It’s just stupid not to.
How often must we beat this dead horse?
Whenever I see a bunch of il-equipped people with lukewarm IQs getting into a totally unnecessary uproar, I think of Shrek quoting “Grab yer torches an’ pitchforks!”
I have trust Steve & Co. to make cool products, and I will continue to do so. I have equal faith in his ability to advertise. iPod is the proof.
I am sure Apple spends millions of dollars on advertising research. How much have you spent? Even IF you have a PhD in marketing, Apple has a way to think far outside the box that confounds even the most learned professional.
At times, I really do think too many Mac-users are trying to form a cult. Use your Mac and be happy. When a friend asks about it, be gracious and show them how it does things differently, often more easily. There is NO reason to go out into the world and evangelize a computer… it is JUST a computer!! It is NOT the digital 2nd coming of Christ!
Go back to your homes, kiss your wife, and rather than getting your pubes in a knot, spend the time with your kids. It will make a much greater difference in the future of society than your hollow rants.
>Whenever I see a bunch of il-equipped people with lukewarm IQs getting into a totally unnecessary uproar, I think of Shrek quoting “Grab yer torches an’ pitchforks!”>
I guess what you are saying is that everyone else who is successful advertising their products have IQs that are lukewarm at best.
Just because Apple doesn’t advertise, doesn’t make it the correct thing to do. Even institutions with IQ’s above the lukewarm threshold make advertising errors.
This, of course, is just my lukewarm opinion.
Well, I would just like one windows user a month to come up to me and say “Is it true, Joe, that Macs are immune to virii and are actually the same price as pc’s, feature for feature?”. I talk to a couple hundred people a month about about computers, programs, networks, etc. and the subject of macs doesn’t come up if I don’t bring it up. The mini is a great alternative to Dell’s cheap consumer line, for a lot of people who don’t need windows specific programs, but I am not going to bust my ass selling it if Steve won’t.
Jon – The vast majority of the people who see your ad won’t have a clue as to what you’re talking about. And the ones that do have already heard it.
Apple needs to demonstrate what Tiger is and what it can do, which includes a brief overview of all the apps bundled with a new Mac (plus iWork). Hammer that one home for a while, then target specific apps in greater detail. I’m thinking of people like my sister, who uses XP and who think it’s high-tech that they can crop a photo from their camera on her PC. She is clueless about Macs except she hears me rant once in a while, so all she knows is that there is another computer of some kind out there. She needs a demo, badly (and I’m 400 miles away). Lots of people like her out there and Apple needs to talk to them.
They should have hot chicks selling the product. In bikinis. In their lingerie chatting on the web. Hot
It’s because ads suck! Commercials suck! Don’t feed those horrible evil mega-media corporations. People need to stop watching TV and stop reading the newspaper. All those media corps do is distract you from the real issues at hand.
I’m not terribly fond about ads on web pages, either, but as long as they aren’t animated and don’t flash at me, I am capable of ignoring them. People should look to find their own information, and know who the information is coming from. RSS! RSS! Publish full articles to RSS so information can be accessed without ads.
Over 50% of the US economy is absolutely dependent on people buying crap they don’t need, and advertising is partially to blame. Billions of dollars per year is wasted on marketing to feed the US addiction for STUFF. “You’re not good/hip/sexy/fast/thin/sane/happy enough! Buy this product and you will be!” It’s insulting and deprovating to society and I WANT IT TO STOP!
DON’T GIVE IN, APPLE! People buy Apple products because they are the best quality consumer hardware and software available, not because of those stupid dancing silhouette ads. Apple has always believed that money spent in R&D is a better investment (in the company AND in society) than money spent in advertising.
GOOD FOR YOU, APPLE, for not giving in to the scourge of humanity that are marketers. They’re worse than insurance agencies, used car salesmen, and pornographers combined.
Snarky: (adjective) describes a witty mannerism, personality, or behavior that is a combination of sarcasm and cynicism. Usually accepted as a complimentary term. Snark is sometimes mistaken for a snotty or arrogant attitude.
Her snarky remarks had half the room on the floor laughing and the other half ready to walk out.
Adjective – Any language that contains quips or comments containing sarcastic or satirical witticisms intended as blunt irony. Usually delivered in a manner that is somewhat abrupt and out of context and intended to stun and amuse. Origin: Snark=”snide remark”.
Evelyn always called attention to the proverbial pink elephant in the room with her snarky comments.
Response to Wingsy:
You are right – but it I am not trying to teach anyone anything. Like you said, the vast majority of people won’t know what I am talking about… but there may be one or two that pass my car on the highway and see my ad… and they might be Mac users already… but they work in some corporation dominated by Dell boxes and have to put up with the daily grind of Windows. And maybe they are feeling more and more like they are in some dwindling niche. But then they see my car go by with this ad that looks like something Apple would make… and their spirit is lifted… and they hold their head high when they talk about their Mac… and people sense this confidence, this pride.
Keeping the morale of the troops high is part of the game.
Finally, when you assert that Apple makes “The World’s Most Advanced Operating System” people notice. That is a bold statement… and when Joe Schmo gets back on his PC and has to fight the problems associated with it… he may think… “Well, there’s always Apple”
And when someone sees that there is a Mac which can fit between two hands… and is $500… well that opens eyes too.
What I am doing sure beats talking in an all Mac forum with other Mac users. While it may not be the most effective thing I can do… it isn’t hurting anything either. Trust me, these signs look professional… and people believe they are actual ads. I tried hard to make them not offend anyone… but still have an edge.
It’s a battle of hearts and minds… and we are on the front lines.
Jon
“Will they discover the Mac or Mac OS X simply by watching dancing stick figures dancing and prancing while listening to iPods? I don’t think so. But as I said, I don’t know all that much about marketing,” Steinberg writes.”
Moron, they see Macs in the Apple stores.. and online..
How is it possible to pick up an iPod without seeing a ton of Mac stuff.
This is their ‘switch’ campaign, get it?
Apple should write some adware for Windows with pop-ups to apple.com
TV advertising for computers is overrated.
The Dell and Gateway ads try to sell you using misleading low prices. That’s because most people already have PCs and it’s a commodity, replacement market. Market research shows that except for the PC virus thing (which is somewhat negative advertising and not aspirational), you wouldn’t be able to get across a message about how Macs or Tiger or iLife is better for some function in 30 seconds.
Apple is better off pounding iTunes into everyone’s head because that’s the trojan horse leading them straight into the living room and consumer electronics, which is where people are spending big bucks (see HDTV sales). So iTunes for music, iTunes for music video, iTunes for movies, iTunes for TV …
(On the business side, Quicktime and H.264 leads to XServe and Mac sales as businesses use them to create and store media for distribution. And Apple is heavily marketing at those conferences.)
Apple is working the Art of the Parlay (from Daring Fireball). iPod leads to iTunes/iTMS, iTunes leads to Airport Express (and video-enabled AE), AE leads to (something still unknown), which will lead everyone eventually to get a Mac when its time to replace the PC.
That’s my analysis (that’s the magic word!(
I reckon we can look forward to no advertising and I will continue to get blank looks whenever I tell people to dump their PCs in favour of a Mac. Meanwhile Adobe, Bentley and numerous other major software publishers will continue to ignore or drop Mac products from their range. For years to come us Mac fans will continue to believe the transformation of Apple into a major computer supplier with a decent market share is just around the corner but it will never happen. Apple is run by tosspots with some weird agenda that none of us plebs is party to. I’ve just bought a new 20″ Imac and Virtual PC to try and run Autocad Lite but it’s so sluggish it’s a total waste of time. I’m a hard-core Mac user of 20 tears but I may finally have to partially go Windows. If the stupid f*ckers at Apple are trying so hard to drive people like me away why should they bother to try to attract any substantial numbers of new users. I give up.
Microsoft must be worried: here in the UK they’ve just started a television campaign (featuring Bill Gates) advertising the benefits of using Windows XP.
————————–
My Mac can go all the way up to XI.