The iPhone, iPad and iDont know what’s next!

The iPhone, iPad and iDont know what’s next!

Jon Reed takes a look at inovation and impact.

As I walked past a mobile phone shop in London a few weeks ago, there was a huge queue that made me wonder if the Wimbledon Championships had moved to Covent Garden. I didn’t know what was going on... Then I opened the metro and made the link... the iPhone 4!! People were queuing to get their hands on one!

It was exactly the same with the iPad. It’s absolutely amazing to me that something like this would get people up at the crack of dawn to be one of the first to own one. I really can’t see the attraction but I’m truly in awe of how the likes of Apple get people so engaged that people queue up all night to buy their products!

Organisations like Apple are so hot on marketing and always innovating. I get the impression they have already designed, tested and finished their next big product before they release current products. Now that’s forward thinking; and providing organisations can foresee trends (or create trends) then that’s how we should all be working, isn’t it? Back when I used to work in restaurants we worked by the phrase ‘you’re only as good as your next menu’ and I’m sure the same applies in retail with fashion trends, and in finance with deals.

Two years ago nobody knew what an ‘app’ was and now it’s a word that features in the Oxford English Dictionary no less! I wonder if back when they were developing the iPhone (and apps) Apple, already had the iPad up their sleeves.(Maybe there’s an app that would tell us?).

Organisations such as Apple (Nintendo is another) are fantastic at creating a buzz about their products and also managing the supply and demand curve to create desire. It seems to me that each Christmas when a new toy (Buzz Lightyear for example) is released there is always a shortage leading up to Christmas and then all of a sudden the market is flooded. I have visions of a man in white coat pressing a button that allows 000’s of white trucks with their engines running out of the factory gates just when intelligence tells them that the market is desperate to pay a premium for the product and that 000s are needed! It’s a really smart way of launching a new product and I wonder if this approach has further applications? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts...

You might not be surprised to know that I don’t have an iPhone or an iPad or even an iPod - so I guess that makes me somewhat ignorant of innovation or maybe I’m just waiting for the iTea maker or the iShed.

21 July 2010

Sally Brand on 21 July 2010

It's interesting what constitutes the "wow factor" with a product or brand and how this catches on...Busaba (fantastic Thai restaurants in London; they're well worth checking out...their Thai calamari is amazing!!) is another innovative brand that really seems to have captured people's imaginations. Their restaurant on Wardour St is always packed, I've seen people queuing outside in the rain for an hour plus to get in. As a brand they're not even especially heavily marketed and I don't think I've seen them offer "2-4-1" or similar! They just have something fresh which engages people and creates word of mouth...what a great way to be!

Jane Sunley on 21 July 2010

And don't you just love the adverstising for the iPad? "You already know how to use it" - genius.

Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) when asked about leadership, said the only thing that works is 'Leadership by values'. We're a strong advocate of this approach and it's interesting that many of learnpurple's value are the traits that make Apple's products so successful, e.g. image (style); simplicity; fun; freedom; improvement with originality (innovation); relationships (Apple's relationship with their users)...