Some Thoughts on the Apple Rumor Mill
Rarely will you hear about Apple’s success without the mention of Steve Jobs’ meticulous business practices, his unrelenting need for perfection, and his constant striving for minimal, yet elegant physical design.
What isn’t mentioned is the lack of promotion that they give their products. Apple could easily do away with every form of advertising and still have more money than the U.S. government. Samsung’s recent ads have poked fun at Apple customers as they constantly check the latest rumors while they camp outside an Apple retail store (it was very well done, I have to admit), but they aren’t doing much for their reputation of selling products with uncanny similarities to Apple’s iDevices.
Samsung can compare themselves to Apple all they want but the bottom line is that they aren’t Apple. Everyone knows what an i(Pod/Pad/Phone) is as the name practically carries itself. The main difference between Apple and their competition, from a marketing standpoint, is that Apple literally says nothing about their upcoming products until their Keynotes.
I began working at Small Dog in July of last year, from then until October 4th (when the 4S was announced), a day never went by where I wasn’t asked about the “iPhone 5.” The same scenario applies today, only instead of the iPhone 5, the questions are about the iPad 3.
The real kicker is that as of now, neither product exists, nor has Apple given any inclination that they will exist. If Apple did leak information about upcoming products, they would be just like every other company out there. In many ways, Apple has the strongest marketing campaign in the sense that they don’t have one. They don’t rely on advertising or publicity, they rely on pure, unadulterated, rumor mill-filled hype and you can’t get any more minimal than that.
