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Three Reasons the Internet is Eroding Apple's Mojo
Young Urban Professional
"Rotten to the Core" by Pupski on Flickr.
I have been an Apple fan and a Mac user much of my adult life. I bought my first Mac in 1992 and have owned half a dozen since. I wrote for Mac magazines in the mid-1990s. I waited on line for many hours twice for the iPhone and I am writing this post on a MacBook Air that I bought sight unseen last year after the Jobsnote.
However, after yesterday's disappointing keynote, I am convinced the Internet is slowly eroding Apple's PR mojo. They are still having a good run, but the times are changing. Here are three reasons why Apple may not make the turn like it did before. There's a lot of lessons here for PR professionals.
1) Bloggers and Citizen Journalists
In the old days, Apple could keep a tight lip on the ship. Steve Jobs has built a no-leak culture since he arrived back in 1996. Today, however, with eyes everywhere and contract manufacturing in China, that's getting harder.
The bloggers are getting pretty good at least at directionally writing about what's coming. The professional journalist are feeding off of it and doing more fact checking of their own. By the time the press invitations are emailed, there's not a lot of oomph left - especially since the iPhone debuted. If you think about it, that was the last time Apple was able to shock and awe.
What does this mean? That expectations are high and Apple can't meet them since the launch of the iPhone.
2) The Rock-Star CEO Era is Over
For years we lived in an age where CEOs were like rock-stars. Edison, Henry Ford, Jack Welch, Sam Walton, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs - all are rock stars.
Today, however, employees and "a person like me" are far more trusted, according to data from the Edelman Trust Barometer. This isn't Apple's fault. It's just times are changing. Recent CEO scandals haven't helped. More importantly, Web 2.0 and social software is giving rise to individual voices and personal brands.
Apple is still living in age where its CEO or executive team are the only people who speak for the company. Compare that to Google, meanwhile, who have an army credible faces in the community like Matt Cutts. Got a Gmail security problem? Matt is on the case. Got a flaming Macbook? Email Steve and pray he isn't too obnoxious.
3) Cloud Computing and Netbooks Erode Apple's Edge
As an early adopter, I am a huge enthusiast of web-based applications. About 75-90% of my needs are handled in a browser. I do all my writing in Google Docs. I edit photos using Picnik or Photoshop.com. The only desktop apps besides a browser that I still use are Microsoft Entourage and PowerPoint. (Microsoft and Adobe are clients of my employer, Edelman.)
Now I am rare. A lot of you still love desktop apps but I think that's going to change. In the next few years you will do more of your computing online. And that means you will be able to be just fine using a netbook or even a phone. The category is still emerging and many are still 1.0 products. But I expect that to change and if the current economic climate continues, then it could erode Apple's notebook share.
"But Apple has web-apps," you say. "What about Mobile Me and the new iWork.com?" They're gorgeous, for sure. However, functionally, they don't hold a candle to Google or Adobe's web apps. And I think Microsoft's products here for sure will be strong. In three years iLife and iWork will have to be entirely cloud-based and the edge goes to the first movers.
That's one person's view of the situation. There are others. What's yours? (For more, see this thread on Friendfeed.)
Reader Comments (34)
- Kris
And I can now completely understand why Apple no longer wants to introduce new products at Macworld -- and it has nothing to do with lack of innovation. Those of us who are obsessed with technology are beginning to miss the point of what Apple is all about.
They need to speak past people who use terms like "netbooks" and who believe there's a mass market clamoring for the devices. Before you write off Apple's innovation, go to http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/#learn and watch some of the videos of artists showing you how to play their songs -- and watch how easy they make it sound. What you're seeing is an amazing use of technology to teach people how to actually use the technology to be participants, not just listeners; to be creators, not just consumers. What you're also seeing is the seeds of a potential new and potentially significant revenue stream for artists/songwriters/publishers that could hearken back to when "sheet music" revenues rivaled recorded music revenues. If an artist is able to release a $4.99 Garage Band lesson every time he/she releases a song, the incremental revenue for that song could one day be significant.
Creating a new way to generate incremental $5 transactions for how-to videos on how to use ones product is one of the more brilliant and innovative ideas I've seen recently.
Oh, and One More Thing: The era of the rock star CEO is far from over - In fact it rises to a whole to level on January 20 at noon in Washington DC.
Is there anything really to stop Apple bringing their own OSX powered NetBook and NetBookPro though? iPhone and iTouch are essentially micro netbooks to an extent. Aren't Apple already rumored to be working on tablet based laptops that are essentially larger, more powerful iTouches? Seems to me that if it goes that way, then they will already have a platform to base it on, even if everyone uses it to access Google's services. Apple also have the massively successful iTunes AppStore to compliment cloud computing.
Besides, surely there'll always be a desire to have a pukka desktop for the more meaty applications that can't go on the web, and even for the odd game. I agree that more and more, expensive office like apps will move to the web, but surely there's still going to be a lot of apps that will always be tied to the desktop, even if storage isn't, and then you have the gamers.
I think the advantage that Apple has, is that there is more legitimacy to the idea of a 'NetBook' more now than ever before. Thanks in no small part to the evolution of browsers and to the growth of Social Media.
However, should the movement to web-based or browser-based apps really take off it will have less to do with Apple per se, and more to do with the development and availability of said apps in environments secure enough to withstand threat. Once that happens than all manufacturers will be able to make devices to utilize the apps - as those apps will have to be truly cross platform friendly.
Reality is it was evolutionary rather than revolutionary products. There was nothing new. It was all updates.
The 17" MacBook Pro was expected since the last MacBook Pro update a few months ago omitted the 17". It was obvious.
The SW updates were due... big question being if Apple would spend a MW keynote on it, or release it with a mere press release and use the time for hardware, which typically generates more buzz.
This had nothing to do with good or bad PR. It had to do with a weaker than normal product lineup.
IMHO Apple is holding off on some hardware due to Intel's state of flux lately due to the economy. I suspect we'll see the expected Mac Mini update soon enough.
I was surprised to see no Snow Leopard demo or iPhone OS update... but they may be holding off on that for Steve Jobs in a several weeks... might just want to let him give that his personal touch rather than trust someone else to present it.
Your not honestly trying to compare a demo of Numbers '09 to the iPhone demo are you? That's pretty unfair. I could have made the iPhone look good. Making a spreadsheet look good is well... not easy.
Even something simple like Apple Mail is hard to duplicate in a browser: the search responsiveness alone is inherently faster when accessing a local hard drive. Maybe the answer is not 100% browser-based software, but a Silverlight-esque situation where the interface runs in the browser, but personal data is stored locally (with optional remote access)? There are still a host of foundational development problems with browser-based software that have yet to be addressed - though things are accelerating quickly.
Netbooks, similarly, are wonderful for browsing and writing, but have prohibitively small screens for many other tasks - developing, designing, modeling - tasks that many of Apple's core fanatics have been doing on a Mac for over a decade.
As always, Apple's real advantages lie in their software, especially their OS. Until Microsoft, Linux, Google-Linux, or whoever else rises to the challenge and creates an operating system that combines the beauty & intuitiveness of Apple's interfaces with the font-rendering, color-profile control, and shareware-base of Mac OS X, Steve Jobs isn't going anywhere.
I mostly agree your point about Apple's corporate inaccessibility, however. As much as I enjoy their secretiveness - it makes exploring each OS upgrade, for example, something I look forward too - it's definitely a fading business model, and one that feels like the Apple from the eighties. Still, we forget that their Retail Stores give them advantages their competitors don't have, and partly makeup for the two-way conversation that something like Google's blogs provide. Communicating over a blog is great, but communicating in person is more informative and reaches a much broader customer base.
If it's on the web, someone, somewhere has access to it.
Elimination of threat, legit data back up, guaranteed access, true multi-platform functionality are all key issues to web-based apps. The question is, are these apps going to be created in response to hardware? or will the hardware evolve to handle the increasing development and use of the apps?
I believe it was Apple's intention to shift it's big announcements away from MacWorld over to it's own events. The mere presence of Steve Jobs would have only made it seem like a more dramatic transition. In a harsh sense, but in their own self interest, they needed to diminish the publicity and importance of MacWorld by not having Steve Jobs appear.
It was probably the best thing for their stock price as well.
So 1, I disagree with you point on the Apple mojo. You can't draw that conclusion from yesterday's keynote. And 2, the rock star CEO era may be over for most but Steve Jobs is the only one still around. He will do their next product release and this meme will change.
I agree with you on your first bullet point on bloggers and citizen journalists to a point. It is having more of an affect on the media in this changing landscape. Now every media outlet wants to look and sound hip, pretending to be bloggers. Next thing you know the New York Times is sending reporters in pajamas and techno-speak t-shirts. Regardless of how this is covered, the hype in the bolg realm is free publicity for Apple, coverage, speculation and leaks. I wouldn't put it past Apple to orchestrate some of these blurry photo leaks you see on Engadget.
On your 3rd bullet point I would say generally yes, but not yet. There is a difference between what your average consumer user does with technology and what we technocentric geeks buy and use on a day to day basis. Eventually we will get there. Who runs it down the line, I am not sure we know yet. Google is certainly the frontrunner right now.
Even though I disagree, the rotten apple photo was a nice touch. ;)
I agree with your #3, that the Internet might dilute mass demand for high-end devices, but Apple is about much more than that. It's about simplicity and experience, and devices are one dimension of that. With the exception of Google's consumer search engine, neither Google or Adobe has reached the same level of usability and elegance.
I'm not sure what you mean by #1. You mean that Apple products lose flair because there are die-hard fans that do a good job of investigative reporting -- if not a lot more pontification and speculation? Consequently, they kill impact of product announcement events? I would argue that bloggers and citizen journalists create great intrigue, anticipation and sustained engagement. It becomes a game, a narrative even, that keeps people coming back for more. Sure, there will be highs and lows over the long-term.
And #2, I'm in agreement with Rex Hammock: you're dead wrong, and Barak is the prime example of why rock-star CEOs will become more important. While there may be lower trust and greater scrutiny among CEOs and institutions, the law of averages (hint, your survey) taints your conclusion: that there will be no popular leaders. In a time of low trust and confidence, hunger will grow for rock-star, effective leaders. When people are down, they long for inspiration to beat the unbeatable. There may be fewer of them, and status harder to achieve, but prominence, integrity and validity will create a new wave of true rock-star CEOs.
Moreover, I challenge your assumption that "Apple is still living in age where its CEO or executive team are the only people who speak for the company." When's the last time you were in an Apple store? When's the last time you asked another Mac user for authoritative information about the company? Sure, it's a culture of die-hard corporate control, but Apple still has one of the most dedicated armies of company spokespeople around -- many work for the company and many more buy the products. Matt Cutts is a great guy, but I bet I can help more quickly among a member of the Mac community than I can a member of the Google community.
Just say'in. Happy New Year.
Max
The one thing I think you may have missed though is the scale issue. Apple's die hard commitment to design has been great for everyone, it made all manufactures rethink design, but I don't think Job's vision can scale in a Wal-Mart world. Simple things like no replaceable battery (esp when your batteries traditionally suck) don't work for the masses.
You might also be right about your assumption that the Rock Star CEO era is over. But that also has to do with the fact that there are hardly any charismatic CEOs left. Too many CEOs today are hired guns who couldn't care less what company they work for, as long as the stock compensation plan looks good. They have no passion for the products or services the companies they run sell, often enough they apparently don't even really understand what their company is doing in the first place.
Steve Jobs is one of the few people left running a large publicly traded company they personally founded. He's not in it primarily for the money, he's in it for making the best products money can buy. And that shows in Apple's product line. Compare Apple's products with the uninspired, bloodless, interchangeable crap many other companies spew into the market, able to compete only on price. I'll choose a great product from a company with a buttoned-up PR policy over crap from a company with a blogging CEO anytime.
As much as I would like to see Apple loosen up its communications strategy, I believe as long as Apple makes superior products and continues to innovate, they'll do great.