Apple: It's All About the Brand
Ask marketers and advertising experts why Mac users are so loyal, and they all cite the same reason: Apple's brand.
It's no coincidence that during the late 1980s and early 1990s it was a marketing executive from Pepsi, John Sculley, who turned Apple into the biggest single computer company in the world, with $11 billion in annual sales. Sculley marketed Apple like crazy, boosting the advertising budget from $15 million to $100 million...more [Wired]
In business there are two things that can save your bacon - price (look at all the discount products that sell well), or Brand. To become a monster hit, you need Brand. You have to create the image, the feeling, the power of the products. Apple has always been about image and ease of use. I'm on my fourth Mac, a G4/400. It has two monitors attached to it, and I love it.
Brand is life in the world of marketing. You can survive in the mainstream, but durability as a product is based on Brand. Look at Pepsi and Coke. Look at Walmart's combination of price and Brand. Apple has survived a lackluster set of technology over the past two years by innovating and packaging the technology (iPod, iMac), and creating Brand associations that sell.
The problem is that even Brands can fail...mj
12:04:11 PM 
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