It looks like Apple is fast loosing its coolness. Once the preserve of design teams who would look down on the rest of the office for their use of dos based PC’s now the brand has taken an everyday presence on our high street.

So much so that a recent press article offered suggestions for headphone alternatives to the white ones supplied with the iPODs so that people could not tell that it was an iPOD you were listening to.

Does this happen to all brands which go from cult to mainstream?

After all the fashion and design press who infuence the mass market have hyped the iPOD to such a degree that there’s nothing left to say about it. And these influencers are only influencers as long as they are introducing something new to their readers. When they stop their readers get bored and move onto another influencer.

The important feature of Apple’s new designs was the price, not design as something you could not live without but, paradoxically, design as something you might finally be able to live with. Does design, too, have to think different now? As Apple reaches for a mass market, as yet out of hand, is it dropping the ball on design?

“The most affordable Mac ever,” Apple.com, the company’s online store, announced. And the iPod Shuffle was pictured next to a package of bubble gum, as though to suggest that at $99 you could stuff it into your mouth and chew it for a while, then spit it out when it lost its flavor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/20/garden/20appl.html?ex=1263963600&en=6368ee9bf47a7b85&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt

Annalee Newitz comment: http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/21026/

http://news.agendainc.com/mt-agenda/content/archives/2005/01/a_dying_breed_a.html

Additionally, Gizmodo posted a rebuttal (http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/AppleHaters.gif) to that picture making fun of Apple haters.

Just ensuring that your article is balanced.

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/AppleHaters.gif

Counter-balance that with one lawsuit against a 19 year old who they didn’t know was that age when they brought it up… oh wait, they put it on hold… oh wait, now two class actions… BUT ALL REALLY JUST BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR APPLE… by that I mean that we’ve seen Apple act like this and have these complaints against them many times before…

Then there’s the competition… Napster? Lowest rated commercial of the Super Bowl and still an unknown in terms of a business model – oh, and like THEIR integrity and history are much “cooler” that Apple’s… Microsoft? Um, well, hey – they did FINALLY annnounce a beta will soon be coming for both Longhorn (forget about how many years overdue it already is) and IE (forget about how many years too – but why only for ZP SP2?) – oh, and like THEIR integiry and history are much “cooler” than Apple…

Conclusion? Very very few people will agree with what you have to say.

http://www.vnunet.com/news/1161348

Consumer cults are like religious cults and Mac has a pretty big one. Cult brands rarely survive the shift from cult to mainstreem. Apple is loseing it’s cool because it is going mainstreem. The mainstreem will never embrace the edge of anything. So if they want to grab the market they have to water down the product. I will hazard a guess that rabid Mac cult members are experiencing late stage cult things like; rise in “power/prestige” due to early adopter status and the compulsion to defend the cult they joined even if it now has gone sour since if they don’t they “look bad.” Pretty simple really. Mac has a cult of emotionally bonded people that were kind of counter-culture. Now that it is jumping to mainstreem the counter-culture folks are sort of displaced.

I could rattle on but this stuff is fairly academic. See:

Ryan Matthews and Watts Whacker
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/56/deviant.html

George Gerbner
http://www.utexas.edu/coc/journalism/SOURCE/j363/gerbner.html

Matt Ragas
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/pubitem.jhtml?id=3228&t=marketing

Gale Group
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0004/ai_2699000433

etc. etc. etc. No, seriously, it’s all related. I wrote a couple of academic papers on it.

Apple has to lose it’s cool on some level because it’s market is no longer Gladwellian early adopters.

Don’t drink the flavor-aid.

Dave, you are completely right. Even your conclusion. Problem is everything you said is exactly why people “should” agree but “won’t.”

This is a shining example of why trend forecasting doesn’t work. People confuse it with trend watching.

Man, you are so right on with your observations but a very (note lack of sarcasm) strong argument can be made that what you pointed out is exactly why Apple is/has lost it’s cool. Money, ratings, earnings…? Cool is only a popularity contest after the early adopters are finished with it. That is the stuff your dad cares about. Statistically speaking roughly 90% of all dads are not cool and 90% of all children at some point think they are cool.(”joking” and “not joking”)
http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/Pareto081202.htm

The point is getting confused with Apple’s success and Apple’s cool. The success is the death of it’s “cool”, not the death of it’s NYSE score. Walmart, Starbucks, McDonalds; very successful, not very cool.
http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/books/klein.html

http://www.supersizeme.com/

http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/books/schlosser.html

http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/

Napster hasn’t been cool since people started going to jail for using it. Ad ratings? The fact that they had an ad during the super bowl is the biggest sign that they are not cool. The fact that it was the lowest rated… who cares. Unknown business model. So was assembly line production at one time.
http://www.bergen.org/technology/indust.html

The reason “cool hunters” have a job is because people are obsessed with numbers and “don’t get it.” Cool can be a science but marketing isn’t that science(dissention with Gladwell acknowledged, yeah, I am an anthropology guy). There is a hint here.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/

And I mean, “hint”. It is by no means a road map because Rushkoff doesn’t totally get it and even when it was current everyone who was paying attention already knew this stuff. “Cool” (I’m getting sick of that word) runs and hides at the first sign of pursuit.

“Conclusion?”
1.Dig a little deeper, Dave.
2.Yeah Simon, things seem to suggest this does happen to all brands making the jump (but you knew that).
3. Clue Giver is actually pretty funny and easily distracted since they clearly listenned to someone in the “mildly distracting 0.00001% than(sic) no one listens to or cares about.” and cared enough to get really upset and make a public fool of themself commenting about. Must have given away all their clues.
4. I wish there was a better term than “cool hunting.”
5. I am totally digressing.

The point is that Guy is far more right than some folks are willing to give him credit for.

I’m not trying to tear Dave down either. I mean, really, right on observations.I wouldn’t be surprised to learn you make a ton of money.

Clue Giver, I am totally making fun of you and sincerely hope you are having a better day.

If people want to keep going we can talk about Dee Dee Gordon, William Gibson, the differences that set the vital 10% apart and what those three things have to do with each other and Apple but,you know, whatever…

Apple isn’t totally tired but it isn’t as cool as it used to be either. It is really starting to smell of fake authenticity.
http://www.hermenaut.com/a5.shtml

I guess I decided to rattle on after all. Sorry; too much coffee.

Name me one time ever, one moment, when anybody anywhere went into business with the ONLY goal of being “cool”. After all, it’s a business! It’s about pleasing the stockholders, making profits, and – at it’s most idealistic – gainfully employing people and having them be happy working for you.

Name me any industry…. any. Auto makers. Television. Journalism. Movies. Restaurants. Anything.

The cycle goes from unknown to cult to trendy/cool to mainsteam to behind the times…. and back. The ONLY constant is can you make a buck.

So first off, whether Apple remains the “coolest” or not – I won’t sweat it. Right now they make quality hardware – if a bit overpriced – interesting software and are about to release the best OS ever (I’ve been working with their seeds since early November).

You know what JT? Somehow I think Apple doesn’t care much about being “cool” either. Hell, I’m guessing they never did. By that I mean if you only think they STARTING to smell of fake authenticity then you need to wise up some.

My only other point I hoped to make in my earlier comment was this… if Apple is no longer “cool”, who replaces them? Microsoft? Napster? Sony? Sun? Nah. Besides, by time the MSM starts calling something “cool” it’s usually an indication that the moment has long since passed.

Okay – one last point. The post is titled “Anti-Apple: Has the Worm Turned?”

Um, wazzat? Name me one thing – ONE THING – to indicate anything truly “anti” or that their fortunes have really turned. Losing their “coolness”? ROFL…. only the supermarket rags would use that as a reason for saying such a thing.

Which is better for the majority of people – being the “cool” cult thing or making a product the the masses want (even if it means that cult no longer has the passion)? Anyone who really believes that anything written in this post matters at all is living in a fantasy world. Period.

Read the original post. It spoke of “image”, but oddly enough, NOT ONCE was the word “cool” used.

I picked up the specific word “cool” from Simon’s comment (and ran with it:) I think Simon was pinging on Apple’s tack at capitalizng on their off beat image. That image is a hallmark of cult branding.

I still hope to make clear that your business evaluation was really not refutable as I see it.

I think a goofy flamer is really what really lead to all that.

Agreed, no one ever set out to only be cool but it is a well knonw means to an end.I would differ on the point that lots of companies have set out to build cult brands. The hope is that cults have smaller but way more loyal market support. Cult brands often make less money but weather econonmic hard times very well. Apple and Harley Davidson are the most often sited. There is an industry based on that. I believe industries in general mostly happen due to market forces and innovation. I also believe the cool/cult thing is what leads to things the mainstream wants and gets. There is an industry based on that too. Cult brands often have the freedom to innovate becuase their fans are more loyal. Cult branding is one way to break into niche markets and locked up crowded industries. Virgin Air, Saturn, Jones Soda, Jet Blue, Muji on and on. Setting out to take major market share is not something Apple could do if it hadn’t maintaned cult status. Innovation built the IPod. Non one needed the damn things until Apple convinced the mainstreem they were, well, cool.

Agreed, that isn’t what you were talking about.

This is the mark of the digital medium. Lack of real time communication, back channel feedback, and that oh so critical 90% or so non-verbal stuff we supposedly do.

For the record; I was being nice, Apple reeks of fake authenticity and has for quite some time. I agree with Clue Giver. Apple is a big smelly elephant with flies on it’s bum. Hahaha I still want one and I still can’t afford it. Er… a Mac, not a smelly elephant.

–”Think Different”, Apple Computers Advertisement

The Unauthorized U2 vs. Negativland iPod Special Edition, take 2
06:09 AM activism

Back in December, Francis Hwang offered the Unauthorized iPod U2 vs. Negativland Special Edition up for auction on eBay. The auction was taken down when Apple complained that this auction was a violation of its intellectual property. eBay did not require Apple to explain precisely how Hwang’s parody was an infringement, and to this day his emails to Apple asking for an explanation have received no response.

box-front[1].jpg

Hwang has decided to offer the item up for auction on his own website, believing that the parody is a legitimate exercise of his free speech rights, and that any claims Apple might make as to
infringement are entirely baseless.

The auction will be up until March 14, 12:p.m.

http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/004615.php