Last week I touched on something that bears expansion upon this time around. It is the simple concept of consumer and hence, brand loyalty.
I know of few product lines that have the brand loyalty that Apple Computer enjoys. Let’s face it. Most companies (with less than half a brain) would kill to have that same fierce enthusiasm from their customers that Apple enjoys.
Now for all the folks who don’t get this or enjoy screaming at their Windows boxes daily (yes, my wife is among those, so much so that the cat frequently comes along to see what all the excitement is about), there really is no mystery.
Twenty years ago, personal computers did indeed exist. But using one was a combination of perseverance, technological savvy and it didn’t hurt if you could throw a wicked spell or two (Call up that Balrog while you’re at it, will you?). Ask anyone who ever used WordStar in its earliest days and they will tell you what it was like. If you didn’t know the codes, it was just plain no fun…
Now I had been exposed to the world of computers way back in the early 70’s by a visit to the University of California at Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science. What at first was a curiosity bloomed into an interest. When I got into the local junior college in January of 1978, computer science was a definite interest. I’d been to a couple of computer shows in the City and got into programming in the BASIC language on both an HP mainframe and Radio Shack’s little TRS-80 (that I had access to now and then, but didn’t own.
The first computer I did own was a second hand Apple ][e that I got from a co-worker for a very reasonable price in 1983. With its monochrome green monitor and floppy disk duo drive, it was a big step. (Remember that to most people, computers were room-sized or better, with water cooling and requiring a team of operators!) And even more so as it allowed me to go online with local bulletin board systems or BBS’s and then AOL. Now way back then, AOL was just a step up from the Applelink system and was an Apple only service. If you had an IBM PC or PC clone, you couldn’t use it. (Things went to Hades the day AOL allowed the PC crowd with all of the kids to come on line…)
The product that changed the world of computing for the common user was the Macintosh. And it came into our minds through one heck of an unusual way: a television commercial.
It was shown only once. Sunday, January 22, 1984. As the Los Angeles Raiders were doing in the Washington Redskins (38 to 9) in Tampa, this sixty second wonder from the Chiat/Day advertising agency and director Ridley Scott did exactly what it was intended to. It got people to talk about Apple and the Macintosh. And it got them interested enough to want to find out more about the product.
(Steve revived that ad for this year with a bit of a twist — you’ll have to figure it our on your own as I’m not telling — and you’ll be seeing it soon, one has to imagine on television again. We saw it at the keynote address, and it was the feature for this years Apple Macworld event poster. You can download your own copy of it in what ever size Quicktime movie you wish from Apple’s site.)
The original, funny little 128k Macintosh changed the playing field. Suddenly, anyone who could point and click could use a computer. And that computer was much more powerful than anything used by NASA to get astronauts to the Moon and back.
It was the Graphical User Interface or GUI and the Mouse that made it all so easy. (Later on, you could add the personal laser printer to that same list of firsts.) While Apple may not have invented them, that original Mac brought them into the world of computing, for the average folks. And that world would never be the same again.
When Steve Jobs was reminiscing this year during his keynote address, he brought up images from the first printed brochure about the Mac. It showed all of the highlights of what we could expect from this funny little box. A particular chuckle came when he showed the page with the image of Bill Gates and some other Microsoft folks from those days way back when. It’s hard from some to recall that key MS Office applications like Word and Excel got their start on the Mac, way before Windows.
But back to brand loyalty… Apple always was a computer for the rest of us. Another Steve quote for this year was that “iLife” was like Microsoft Office for the rest of your life.” That’s what folks at any software business would kill to hear about their product. Apple is lucky in that it has a base of users that are evangelists about their product.
Former Apple employee, Guy Kawasaki was one of the folks behind the evangelical efforts that the company has enjoyed.
From his book, “Rule for Revolutionaries”:
“… no one can deny that Apple is blessed by the allegiance and support of tens of thousands of “raging, inexorable thunderlizard” Macintosh evangelists.
These evangelists made Macintosh successful throughout the world. They weren’t employees or stockholders, but they believed that Macintosh was good news and told people about it. They formed user groups of customers, conducted free demonstrations, taught Macintosh classes, and straightened up the Macintoshes on display in stores around the world.
You should be so lucky to have evangelists like we did. They can enable you to change the world by carrying the flag for you at times and in places that your company cannot. They will round out and supplement your product where it is weak — for example, providing technical support when you’re unable or unwilling to. They will confound your competition when it tries to woo them away with bribes and inferior products.”
Anyone out there paying attention to what the man just said?
Hello? Burbank?
Why do I hear crickets?
Well, I’m one of the Mac faithful, and likely will be for some time to come. I’m looking forward to a year of surprises, just like Steve promised. Who knows? So, here’s to the first 20 years and many more of insanely great products for the rest of us.
It’s a busy week and then some ahead for Roger with a couple of private car trips out of the Bay Area. So he’ll be back soon with more tales from out and about. Stay tuned…
If you enjoyed this or any other of Roger’s efforts, why not show your appreciation by dropping a few bucks into his Paypal Donation Box. Keep ’em flying!