Nice essay from Ken Segall (long time creative director who worked on the Think Different campaign, came up with the iMac name) about the fallout from Bendgate.
To me, the story isn’t that Apple created a sub-standard product. Because it didn’t.
The real story is that all these people were so quick to believe that Apple had screwed up in such a monumental way — and then joyfully helped blast this “news” into the public consciousness.
You know the story, watched it play out over the last few days. Will it impact iPhone 6 sales?
If you’re familiar with this blog, you’ve probably heard me talk about the importance Steve Jobs placed on getting customers to love Apple. He wanted every part of the customer experience to strengthen that love — from the advertising and in-store experience to unboxing, enjoying the product and getting support when needed.
By doing so, he would ensure that customers would (a) buy more stuff, (b) evangelize to others and (c) stick with Apple when unforeseen problems arise. He understood that such things were inevitable, even for a company like Apple.
History proves that Steve was 100% correct. Despite the intense media blasting, Apple customers did not defect because of Antennagate or Mapsgate. It’s pretty obvious that there will be even less damage from Bendgate.
This rings true. If Bendgate accomplished anything, it was to raise awareness of the iPhone 6 Plus. Apple’s brand has tremendous critical mass. Like a massive mountain range, it would take great force, sustained over a long period of time, to cause any lasting damage.
While I think Apple has earned our trust on the hardware and platform side, I think they have negative equity on the iCloud and services side of things. They will have to work for years to shed the image that software upgrades can break things and that their data is not secure. Whether these are fair assessments is arguable, but the general public, who doesn’t care that much about power features, could benefit if Apple just slowed down a bit and focused more on QA.
I was talking with my son who is an Android user. I told him that I had a Plus on order and he mentioned “the bending”. I said if there really was a problem with my phone what do you think Apple would do? He thought about if for a second and said “Yup, they’d just fix it no questions asked.”
I had a friend post prematurely, I would guess to stir controversy on Facebook about this very non-issue. Only for me to link the two first articles that came in defense of Apple. The first one was about the rigorous testing Apple submits it’s gear while in development, the second was the Consumer Report that unequivocally proved that the iPhone 6 was just as durable as any other phone in the market. My friend had no rebuttal at all. He simply clicked like on both articles.
The Internet is fundamentally a toilet. Who cares what people say? it has had zero effect on Apple. This is what they believed. this is what happened.
Don’t pass around FUD. And this includes you, Jim.
BTW- I’m pissed that the thing doesn’t bend.
Speaking of backfire, the commercial with Cortana on the Android phone mocking Siri on the iPhone is probably not doing what they wanted. While Siri claims she can’t remember anything, Cortana brags that she remembers your past resturant choices, the food like,where you shop, what you buy…. Doesn’t everyone see how this demonstrates Apple’s respect to privacy while Android, Google, Facebook, et al, do not?
You know what they say: bad publicity is a real thing and it can hurt your business.
Cortana is on Microsoft Windows Phone
It makes perfect sense that a company known for getting it right more than anyone else would be targeted whenever the slightest hint arose that they got something wrong.
Part of it has to do with how much companies have been shown to mislead or take advantage of their customers (like Google’s “don’t be evil” mantra being used as a smoke screen to conceal just how much they are infringing on their customers’ (read: products’) privacy). There’s a general mistrust of companies that claim to be our friends or have our best interests at heart.
And part of it has to do with the desire to see the mighty fall. We’re not perfect, so we feel better when we see that those who appear to be perfect aren’t actually perfect either. To the point where we’ll exaggerate (or believe exaggerated) claims just to satisfy that need to feel better about ourselves.
At the risk of double-posting, I’m going to summarize here what I put on the earlier post on Samsung’s manufacturing-defect phone.
Apple is a person. We all know that’s not true, but because of its history and how we grew up relating to the company, psychologically it’s a person. It’s not just the conflation of the company with Steve Jobs (and now Tim Cook: the press just wants to swap one for the other because they’re so used to considering Apple == Jobs and it’s no fun to break that narrative).
Apple owns the whole widget, of course on purpose so they can control the experience. But that also means that they are the only one to go to when something goes wrong. Something I don’t like about my iPhone? The chip (Apple)? The camera (Apple)? The software (Apple)? That I wish an app were there that isn’t (Apple)? The build quality (Apple)? Software updates (Apple)?
So, that is generally a very good thing. But it does have the downside of reinforcing this image of Apple being just a person. Look at Samsung over there. Their chip is Intel (I think). Their OS is Google. Software updates have to go through the carriers. It’s a committee, not a person.
And this is the result. If you complain to a person, you expect an answer. If you complain to a committee, you expect to feel helpless and frustrated. It’s so much EASIER to complain to the person. It’s so much more empowered-feeling.
The notion that awareness of iPhone 6 plus would increase as a result of Bendgate has no foundation. Those who don’t hear or know of iPhones will not hear about Bendgate.
The notion that this won’t affect sales also doesn’t wash. Of course there are some who will hesitate or even walk away from buying iP6+. But the number is small. That is all. The fact is that it is indeed easier to bend than iPhone 5. Not that it will happen with normal use in most cases. But please acknowledge that much.
The fact is that, everyone is so pre-occupied with finding flaws and defending this new iPhone that even Apple fanboys have failed to properly appreciate it. So little has been written the front to back symmetry afforded by the tapered glass, with a barely noticeable (by eye or feel) seam between metal and glass. While not heavy, it does have more weight than you expect for something so thin. This is simply the best smartphone design out there.
there’s no need to acknowledge anything – anybody with a brain knows that metal (malleable) bends. the only question is whether it happens during normal use cases. you yourself said it: no.
“this includes you, Jim.”
LOL You realize Jim doesn’t write everything you see on The Loop, right? 🙂
I think that shows just how effective that advert is at brand awareness 😀
Yeah, the design is stunning. All the horse-shit FUD about bend-gate doesn’t change that. Again, this kind of coordinated, sustained FUD would destroy any other company. It’s a testament of how much loyalty and goodwill Apple has built over the years (justifiably) that at the end of the day, this shit just bounces off.
They’re gonna smash every possible sales record this christmas, so they’re just fine.
Once only needs to look at how little attention Samsung’s massive gap between the screen and phone got on the media (ie. zero) to see the insane double-standard. Even Samsung’s own documentation admits its a real problem. This is a company that pushes the release dates of its product forward a month out of panic.
“Will it impact iPhone 6 sales?” Is there a Betteridge’s Law corollary for sub-heads?
I was at the mall over the weekend and people were still in, non-reservation, line for iPhones. I’m sure those people would welcome a mass-cancelling of orders by people concerned about bending.
Completely agree. iCloud is becoming a real problem for Apple, a service that many of us actively avoid.