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In 2004, Burberry the 140 year old UK fashion house faced a crisis – the iconic Burberry Check had become the brand of choice for Chav’s across the UK – billions of dollars were being spent by Average Joe and Sub-average Jacki on anything emblazoned with the Check and within three years of launching the line Burberry’s brand was a ghost of its former self.

Burberry well and truly deserved their fate. Unlike Louis Vuitton’s monogram, counterfeiting was not the force behind the mass adoption of the iconic weave, Burberry themselves had provided access to their range through an accessories line including scarves and baseball caps. They leveraged their significant brand cache to sell an entry-level product range and all but destroyed their brand as a result. The Burberry brand was dead in the UK, no self respecting fashionista would be seen wearing the Check, worse still, by 2007 even the Chav’s were too self conscious about the Burberry cliché to wear the gear outdoors!

Sure fashion is a fickle thing, but Burberry were truly a victim of their success, and in fashion many others have suffered a similar fate.

Increasingly, fashion’s undesirables are adopting the iPhone as their key to cool, just as the true cool are heard to say “it’s just a phone, I’ll change it soon”. iPhone has some runway yet, there are a few hundred million people still to buy one meaning Apple have at least a couple of years of stellar revenues to look forward to from their phone division; but when the fickle face of fashion is looking the other way, what damage will have been done to the broader Apple brand? Take a $3,000 Mac, strip out the brand cache, and you’re left with some very expensive industrial design and a world of compatibility pain.

 

If Apple is no longer cool, will you still buy it?

Google and Apple are engaging in a pissing contest the likes of which may not have been seen since the early 40’s. I think it’s awesome.

It seems very personal, and driven by the gargantuan egos of the two CEOs Eric and Steve! What began as a skirmish on the edges of a Cell Phone DMZ, clearly orchestrated during Eric’s sojourn on Apple’s Board has become an epic multi front battle. I say bring it on!

Microsoft has long supplied arms to both sides, but is offering the bi(n)g guns to only one. Interesting times.

 

 

I posted earlier that the iPAD launch was a relative failure for Apple, a company increasingly used to widespread adulation and awe when they flick something white and shiny to the hoi polloi, but I think I was wrong.

In reality, the iPhone underwhelmed the market at launch. It was pricey and short on features. Same too for the iPOD, again it was pricey and basic when compared to the iRiver or Creative devices available at the time. In each case though there were unique, subtle elements that would go on to drive frenzied levels of consumer desire for Apple’s gear. The iPOD brought instant cool via white earbuds, simple but unique and instantly recognisable. The iPhone’s Ap Store created a hundred thousand product demos, and millions of iPhone owners all too eagre to show off even the most inane ap (shaker restaurant finder anyone?) to their friends. And I suspect the first tranche of iPAD owners will willingly justify their purchase with Had to Have platitudes, that’s human nature I suppose.

And beyond the certainty that the iPAD will have some must-have attributes, albeit they are less than obvious today, there is a large base of Apple fans out there who must have Apple’s Latest, period. I suspect that base of loyal followers to number in the tens of millions, let’s call them iSheep for the sake of providing a Noun, offering Apple a sizable base of early adopters less sensitive to price or usability who will ably fund the evolution of the iPAD into the ultimate device it so easily could have been, while convincing the market as a whole that the iPAD is indeed a must, must, must have! Which it isn’t.

But it will succeed. Of course it will. Damn you Apple!

Still, The Simpsons get it, least we can do it have a chuckle. Click the image.

http://en.sevenload.com/videos/aRCLEpW-Simpsons-Mock-Apple-The-Simpsons-Mapple-Store