Apple
the marketing genius of Steve Jobs
There was a time when I spent my Saturdays with the old folks at The Terraces Of Los Gatos, helping with their computer problems. Smartphones and watches were new in the marketplace in those days, but an amazing number of people in their 70s and beyond had computers at home or needed help buying one. When I was often asked whether to buy an Apple or Windows computer, I would answer with a question – “Where do you shop for groceries, and what kind of car do you drive”? If they replied, “Safeway and Chevrolet”, I would recommend Windows, and if they said, “Whole Foods and BMW”, I would recommend Apple. The people who had lived as long as they had, and were able to afford to live in an expensive retirement community chose Chevrolet because they understood VALUE, and the BMW drivers were putting a higher priority on IMAGE. In other words, they were willing to pay more for less in order to impress others.
The things Jobs did to convince Americans, particularly teenagers, that his system was better, even though it often lagged the competition in functionality and always lagged in value, is a testament to his genius in the computer world. That image never made it out of the USA with computers or smartphones, but it lingers here long after he has left us.
