Epic....The greatest thing about Apple is not that they invent technology, but they just get that technology and make it more useable. Let's take video calling for example. An application that has been around for a while now just seems to be better harnessed by Apple that application is video calling.
The iPhone 4 ad communicates one of the best reasons for buying an iPhone to a market that might not consider buying a phone normally. That market is the deaf and mute market. Why would they buy a phone when they cannot make sound or hear sound. Video calling...they just need to see the signs.
Speaking of seeing signs and video calling. Do you think that there is a chance that there would be youtube esq. ads that pop up whilst you call? Would anyone allow for this to happen on their phone if it made calls cheaper?
Ad-funded free phone calls have been proposed many times in the past, but I don't recall anyone ever managing to get this business model off the ground. Check out this report from a couple of years ago: http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/112319,free-mobile-phone-calls-if-you-can-put-up-with-the-ads.aspx
ReplyDeleteOne of Apple's greatest strengths seems to be their ability to take a Point of parity (something common in the product category), blur the lines (by either adding features or showing the feature being used in a new way) and make it into a point of difference (a feature uniquely associated with Apple in the minds of consumers).
ReplyDeleteI think u make a good point here - Apple have shown deaf people using their iPhone4's video call to use sign language over the phone. Thats something that I (not sure about anyone else) haven't seen in an ad or marketing communication before.
1. They took a point of parity - Video Calls: Nokia phones have featured frontal cameras for years (I remember having video call capabilities on my Nokia n70 way back in 2005!).
2. Showed that point of parity being used in a new way - deaf people using sign language.
3. And all of a sudden when people think of video calling they associate it with iPhone4 (Not nokia who was featuring video call capabilities on their phones as early as 2004 on their 6630 model).
I'd say they just created yet another point of difference