A for Apple

It is possibly the very first letter to object association one might learn as a toddler. Once a part of your life, it rarely happens to leave you. It keeps coming back as a part of a fruit plate or a pie on your table, an appletini or just a glass of juice, Adam’s apple and also the apple that got Newton to propose the concept of gravity and possibly change the way the world then was. I guess the world today has another apple to add to the list.

Yesterday was the launch of Apple iPhone 6 and for some reason it was an event which was the talk of the town. Business and news channels were following it, alerts were being circulated on news apps and almost every newsprint had it as a front page news the next morning. So Apple launches a much awaited iPhone 6 with two variants and announced Apple watch to hit the markets in 2015. To me, it seems like Apple and Samsung are gonna fight a technology supremacy war while the Xiaomi and Micromax take over the world.

Ask me, I’m not excited as the first reviews I read do not promise anything earth shattering. Experts are actually critical of post-Jobs Apple entering the large screen market; something Jobs was vocally against. Also since I’m not so much an Apple or iPhone freak (my only Apple asset to date is an iPod). If I compare the specs, Samsung seems much more in control. But for the world Apple definitely seems to strike a chord with its apparent brand equity. As an Indian stand-up Apoorv Gupta had in his act; ‘…for some the excitement of an iPhone launch is no less than the birth of a younger sibling in the family…’

Apple since its inception has been associated with innovation and more often than not, it has stuck to its roots. Apple and Microsoft started a few years apart as assemblers of computer hardware. All thought out the 80’s, Apple was holding out on its own as the IBM-Microsoft combine rolled on. But once the home PC market was established in the early 90’s, Microsoft with Windows virtually took over the whole world by storm and entered almost every household. Apple on the other hand was a niche for high end graphics and processing. The association of Steve Jobs with George Lucas and Pixar is well documented.  The Mac’s were usually considered a richly engineered and expensive computing experience.

The complete excitement around the brand I believe started off with the iPod. Apple surged ahead in the market with a product which had a far refined under interface compared to the rest- which were more of USB devices with playback capabilities. The fact that you could create a playlist, a touch pad to change tracks or control volume made the iPod desirable even though no FM radio, the high cost and the fact that you needed iTunes to transfer music or make playlists. I believe this instilled the confidence that Apple rides on as they went ahead with the iPod Touch, iPad, and iPhones.  If the product is ground breaking- people will buy.

I’m really not sure if Apple iPhone 6 and the Apple watch will be a resounding success; I really don’t see superiority in terms of technical specs as yet. I also know of people who have had massive software related problems with their iPhone 5 models. Apple has had its fair share of product failures- the PDA called Newton is one I recall having seen. But there is one thing that no one has so far complaint; it is the quality of the product and its design features. This is not just limited to the phones from Apple but is true universally for all the products apple has in the market.

If Apple as a brand needs to be defined, it would quite simply be a benchmark. Pick an area of your choice and in every category that Apple is present, it is considered a gold standard. And this is not limited just to products: it expands across every possible contact point with its customers. Apple products in a retail space have a presence unlike any other. Its dealer outlets bear an overwhelming use of white which actually makes its products appear in all the grandeur. The jewel case packaging, white accessories, carry cases- just about everything distinguishes itself from the rest and is more often than not copied to a fair extent.

An area where I get a lot of requests is how Apple communicates. Again, this also has the use of white to a high extent with a play between black & white being dominant. The font that Apple uses is also a well-rounded and without serifs type face, which definitely has a fun but not frivolous appeal. It is not funny the number of times clients show us an Apple ad or a product brochure and say, “I want something like this… simple, clean and yet creative”.

To sum it all, we may or may not actually purchase an Apple product, but they have in many ways set new standards. It likes to maintain its place of exclusivity by comparatively higher pricing- but definitely make an impact on desirability. It is a statement through its design and specification. The fact will always remain- Apple will always be ‘The Apple’ of the eye.  

Roti, Kapda aur Mobile

If I wanted to sum up the changing fabric of India over the last 20-25 years, this is what I would say.  While roti and kapda have been popular political slogans right from the 60’s as basic and essential needs for a population, mobiles have become a key requirement for people. And why not; calling rates in India are cheaper than in comparison to any place in the world, handsets and even smartphones are available within budget and tower penetration has been improving. One big reason for this is the advantage of a large population base; the numbers compensate for operating revenues.

Mobile phones have changed the way India has functioned over the last 20 years of its existence in India. It started off as a luxury which only the super-rich could afford. No ordinary Indian could afford a handset resembling a brick costing above Rs 5000 and paying Rs 16 the moment they said hello. But this was an era when number of networks were few and competition had not set in yet. Orange

The first winds of change came in from Reliance which came in with its captive low cost handsets and lowest calling rates for the day. They targeted corporates and roped in the biggest names with their massive employee strengths to come through with corporate offers that gave them scale as well as steady clientele.

The next boom came around early 2000s when Airtel was launched and came in with a sweeping offer of free SMS every month. This was revolutionary in terms that mobile phones unlike fixed lines were no longer for voice alone and SMS was the choice of communication which was most analogous to an internet messenger. And as always, even at times when a call would cost Rs 1, an SMS was free.

This coinciding with cheaper handsets entering the market which set the trend for mobile phone rising higher in the must have list. Finally, when TRAI scrapped the free SMS schemes and limited discounting, some felt was there scope to innovate beyond calls and SMS at 50p. Enter Tata Docomo and its game changer per second billing. In reality, this is not discounting at all… in fact this is expensive that what other players offered; but the perception of value won the game.

Running parallel to this was the handset market with Indian market flooded with low cost options through joint ventures with East Asian companies. Between 2008 and 2010; there were a total of 26 handset companies which entered India. Everyone had a phone; the maid, the watchman. The neighbourhood vegetable vendor now took orders on the mobile phone and delivered on the door step. You could now call a taxi cab as the driver had a phone. STD calls were now dropping as migrants could call their relatives in rural India at places where power and water may be a problem, but telephone networks were always present.

During this time, I used to avidly follow the blog of an ex-Nokia guy; Tomi Ahonen. In my view, he was among the first guys who had predicted how the mobile phone screen would be the next big thing. At first, the idea seemed a distant dream considering India was still in the WAP days with abysmal subscriptions. But how right he was. In the next few years, the personal space of the telephone screen was doubling faster than the traditional computers and with the advent of smart phones is almost looking to replace takeover the market completely. Mobile based internet access has been increasing ever since. Today there is more revenue being generated through mobile based internet services as compared SMS. Just a few numbers- 185Mn mobile internet users in India alone. It kind of justifies the reason why an internet platform like facebook has bought a small mobile social App like Whatsapp. 

Blackberry was considered a serious business phone until BBM became a college hangout. It was now a scenario where a business person carried a top of the line Blackberry and a collegian had a low end model with almost every functionality as the top end. Dedicated widgets for applications were a rage when launched. But all this was just a phase as we see it today.

The rules of the game have changed and the biggest game changer has been Android. The open software platform and Apps for android rendered Symbian as an ancient relic and Android, Windows and iOS became the mobile softwares by choice. Today, it is not surprising for me to find people from modest backgrounds flaunt a high end phone as a combined effort of low tariffs, cheaper handsets and a host of free Apps to cater to everyone. It is astonishing to find that globally, 24% of all internet access is through Android (phones and tablets), 18% is iOS (all devices including PC) and Windows is only 9% (all devices including PC).

Where will we go next is anyone’s guess. But one thing is for sure, what is the ordered of the day, will be a page in history soon. What Motorola and Nokia were once; Samsung and iPhone are today. Mobile technology is changing so rapidly that the jump from iPhone 4 to iPhone 5 has been about 6 months. Mobile phones are now a need and it won’t be long when nomophobia (phobia of having no mobile connectivity) will be as prevalent as common cold.