In the third issue of Forrester Magazine Harris Collingwood, a researcher at Forrester, writes about Apple and five reasons for their coolness. Quiet interesting and kind of guideline for everybody who wants to be cool.
Here are the first four:
1. Great Products
No doubt: the products by Apple are great. Some products (as the Cube or the Newton) are even too great. But for the public image these products prove: Apple always works hard, just to get the best.
2. Decide on your Story, then stick to it
Since the »1984« ad, Apple consistently has claimed to be different from the other impersonal computer companies. Repetition pays. Apple's story has firmly established itself in the minds of the press. Say what you are. Stick to it, again and again.
3. Choose your friends well
Apple always did a good job in choosing »friends«. For example Bono saying the iPod is »the most beautiful object art in the music since the Electric Guitar«. Or Carrie in »Sex & the City« who constantly uses her Powerbook for writing her column.
4. Choose your enemies better
Apple's 2,5 percent market share looks less like a sign of weakness and more like an emblem of virtue. It has always been persistent against the big enemies, first IBM in the 80s and Microsoft in the 90s.
Read the article
