The iPhone was described by Steve Jobs as “A revolutionary mobile phone...a breakthrough Internet communications device."
It literally changed how we thought about a mobile. Instead of being a better phone, iPhone was a better internet device. It pioneered a diverging category of mobiles called touchscreen mobile internet devices.
Motorola invented the category of mobiles. Nokia brought mobiles to the masses. BlackBerry invented the keyboard phone for email. Samsung brought better designs. iPhone invented the touchscreen internet device. Motorola’s Droid and Samsung’s Galaxy launched touchscreen devices running Andriod.
What is really striking about iPhone compared to other mobile brands is the consistency in their design and simplicity of the naming. Each phone has the same look and each new model focused on one or two major improvements sure to generate lots of buzz.
Designing hardware that has a visual identity is an important part of branding. The design of the iPhone is its visual hammer. While each year brings a better device with more features, the general look of the phone and name of the phone remains the same.
From a small business marketing consultants view, it’s a strategy Motorola could have used with StarTac or Razr, but never did. Instead they launched too many models, sub-brands and never stayed focused on the high-end. Plus they added their Motorola name to everything, a name that was connected to car radios not mobiles. It just goes to show you, even if you invent and pioneer a category it doesn't mean you will stay the leader. You need to make wise choices when it comes to branding especially as your categoy diverges.
Now comes the iPhone 5C - "C" is for colors? But most think of it as the cheap phone. Could it be Apple is making some of the same mistakes that Motorola did?
Across Sydney, Melbourne and Australia, we have brands that do this every day of the week. Big and small. Keep that small business brand focused.