Spreading the aloha of Macintosh, Hawaiian music and island culture from the sunset side of Haleakala volcano on the wonderful island of Maui

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Tuesday, February 1, 2005

Some Good News for a Change The press finally gives Apple some credit In a recent development quoted everywhere except perhaps the front page at MSN, Apple Computer has been named the brand with 'the most global impact.' I'm not really sure what 'global impact' is besides the result of a major earthquake, but positive press is a nice change. Years ago when no pundit could mention Apple without the word 'beleaguered' we dreamed of a day when the statement 'beleaguered Microsoft' would be common, but never imagined that Apple could actually be mentioned in glowing terms or the stock be worth more than lunch per share. But here we are, at a unique point in the twenty-first century when Apple is finally considered a beacon of commerce and value. You can read the whole story at Brandchannel "Global: Apple bites big" "After a two-year hiatus Apple has returned to win the 2004 Readers' Choice Awards for the brand with the most global impact--a title held by Google since 2002. It's hard to imagine a brand having a shinier year than Apple. Notably punctuated with iMacs, iPods and iTunes, Apple's 2004 presence was felt in the press, in ads and on the streets, with iPod coming to define the word "ubiquitous." Coupled with strong revenue, Apple reported a net profit of US$ 295 million in the last quarter of 2004 alone and a 2004 overall net income growth of 300 percent. Yes, 300 percent. And just in case any marketing majors miss the point, here's the secret of Apple's success: At Apple's core is great innovation, beautiful design and an ability to bring warmth and passion to those who may be completely incurious about technical gadgetry but need it nonetheless to survive in today's world." Then there's this case of Steve-worship from the Christian Science Monitor. "America's premier guru of gadgets is doing it again" The article mentions... "Steve Jobs and his unflagging obsession with originality, engineering authenticity, and design detail. This obsession has been the sine qua non of Apple's operating systems and consumer electronic products for more than 25 years, even though these qualities haven't necessarily delivered superior market share - until now." As well as the sort of acknowledgment certain to enflame the Windows drones... "I truly believe that we don't have anyone like him in our time." Man, are we lucky! There's only one. There's also only one Richard Branson and one Burt Rutan and one Dean Kamen. Right now, brilliant people are pretty thick on the ground, but they don't get the media attention that twits like Donald Trump, Bill Gates or George Bush do because wealthy, egocentric psychopaths are just so very popular right now. At least the press has taken a short break from telling us about that wonderful war and how children should go to jail for stealing music to shine its fading light on good technology and great design. 11:20:27 AM    comment []