Marketing From Another Angle: How did Apple Do it?

Today, I was browsing the metro newspaper then I came across the ‘iPad’ priced at £500 or more. I started to crave it for no apparent reason, a device which would serve no real purpose in my life. Then I started thinking “how did apple do it?” create another masterpiece after the iPod and iPhone while making it as desirable as its predecessors.

The Big Questions

With the iPod and iPhone there was already markets for the products to enter but the same couldn’t be said about the iPad? Apple’s next challenge was to create a market for their new creation. But to make a totally new market you need to identify a need and offer a solution. This led to the next big question, what is the iPad for? What does it do that the iPhone can’t already do? People would say that it was just a bigger version of an iPhone, so is there any point getting it if you already own an iPhone?

A market is created at the cost of others

The iPad was launched and we were all amazed. In awe of the multi-touch capabilities, how the fingers zoomed in and out of text, switched from page to page with ease, this device made everything seem so simple. It may not have sold as many as expected but it succeeded in creating a new craze, a new market. Since then newspapers have rushed to make their publishing digital, e-books have been revolutionised. Give it a few more years before the iPad’s and the PC Tablets alternatives could maybe outdate the net books and e-readers at the same time. Apple may not have sold as many as they predicted but the benchmark has been set and all the rest shall follow.

Design prevails over all

Now I shall attempt to answer the original question. Apple produced another innovative product and made it a desirable through design. From the design of the product to the interface to the multi-touch functionality, PC tablets have been around forever but it was when Apple re-designed them that the world discovered them. If they were to give a name to this style of designing I would call it convenience. Everything inch of an ‘I’ product is made at the convenience of the user, with the iPod it was the scroll wheel then with the iPhone it was the ‘double tap’ to zoom in on text. Finally the iPad brought a whole new light on digital publishing with the way a simple touch can spring life into the pages of the e-book, making the latest e-readers look tacky. Once again design prevails over all other factors.

New competitor, new blackberry hype?

So a new market has been found, will this new innovation keep hold of the market like the others or will a worthy challenger be found? Samsung Galaxy Tab is already gaining market share quickly with it’s competitive pricing, Windows and Android are playing catch up and now even the Blackberry Playbook is about to be launched. I feel this has the potential to do as well as the blackberry smart phones which have been competing with the iPhone. Could this be the new blackberry hype? The iPad lacks Flash, USB and SD card slots, the Playbook doesn’t. The BB brought a new innovation to the game with the BBPin, I believe they can once again bring something new to the table in the world of PC Tablets.