The Apple iPhone Brand Mistake
There have been rumors about Apple working on a cellphone for years. To my knowledge Apple has never confirmed these rumors, but recently Hon Hai Precision Industry in Taiwan has confirmed that they have a contract with Apple to produce 12 million phones with integrated mp3 player. I have read several places that people consider this a confirmation from Apple that they are producing the iPhone.
I could not disagree more, and I really hope that I am right. Ever since cellphones came with calendars, cameras, mp3 players, email, Java and what not, people are using their "phones" for more and more tasks unrelated to making phone calls. In my opinion, a regular cell phone to day is not so much a telephone as it is a multimedia device or a personal planner. There are really no reasons for this ubiquitous gadget to be called a phone or anything similar.
My point is as follows; The iPod is a known brand loved through out the world. The devices Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and company call phones are in my opinion closer to the iPod in functionality than to a telephone. It would be a huge mistake by Apple to brand their communication capable device anything other than an iPod. They are in the position to rename, or rebrand, a device owned by most people beyond the age of 12 in a large portion of the world. Imagine the power; nobody calls their phones phones anymore. They are all pods, or something similar. And Apple will pretty much own this new name. Calling their new device iPhone, Apple will lose this opportunity.
I realize I am not very good at coming up with good product names. My suggestions below are pretty pathetic. But I know a bad name when I hear one. At least I think I do... ;)
* iPod Talk
* iPod Connected
* iPod Communicator
I could not disagree more, and I really hope that I am right. Ever since cellphones came with calendars, cameras, mp3 players, email, Java and what not, people are using their "phones" for more and more tasks unrelated to making phone calls. In my opinion, a regular cell phone to day is not so much a telephone as it is a multimedia device or a personal planner. There are really no reasons for this ubiquitous gadget to be called a phone or anything similar.
My point is as follows; The iPod is a known brand loved through out the world. The devices Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and company call phones are in my opinion closer to the iPod in functionality than to a telephone. It would be a huge mistake by Apple to brand their communication capable device anything other than an iPod. They are in the position to rename, or rebrand, a device owned by most people beyond the age of 12 in a large portion of the world. Imagine the power; nobody calls their phones phones anymore. They are all pods, or something similar. And Apple will pretty much own this new name. Calling their new device iPhone, Apple will lose this opportunity.
I realize I am not very good at coming up with good product names. My suggestions below are pretty pathetic. But I know a bad name when I hear one. At least I think I do... ;)
* iPod Talk
* iPod Connected
* iPod Communicator
posted by Bent André Solheim at
3:25 PM
2 Comments:
Sorry, but you're very very wrong. Although it's extremely tempting when you've got a successful brand, brand extension actually weakens products (there are sooo many case histories, but try the recent KitKat extension in the UK). In the minds of the consumer, iPod equals music player, and it's best to keep it that way (why do you think the current generation is an iPod plus video, rather than a video Ipod?). Nope, iPhone is fine - keep it as a separate category.
Read some books by Ries or Trout if you don't believe me. And gosh - Trout lists Apple as one of his clients....
By
Anonymous, at 7:34 PM
Thank you for your comment.
I was under the impression that the current generation iPod has music, photo, movie and game capabilities. It is my opinion that adding communication capabilities is not so special as to warrant a rebranding to iPhone (it cannot be iPhone since it is already a brand) or similar. Communication is just another feature of the already feature rich iPod. The iPod should be kept a music player in the minds of the customer.
My main point is that branding a gadget as a phone just because you can make calls with it is wrong. I can make calls with my PC, and I don't call my PC first and foremost a phone. Communication is just a feature of the PC. The iPod is first and foremost a multimedia device. But you can also make calls with it... I also think Sony Ericsson made a mistake when branding their music player line of phones Walkman Phones. They should have made them look slightly different and just called them Walkman.
Everybody has cell phones these days. But they are so much more than phones. I think the first company to brand a successful line of communication capable products something other than a phone will have a huge advantage. Apple has such an opportunity now.
By
Bent André Solheim, at 11:57 PM
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