More fun [and games]: iPod touch marketing refreshed
When Phil Schiller et al put on their iPhone OS 3.0 dog ‘n’ pony show last month, they let it be known that, in addition to 17 million iPhones the company had sold, they had also moved in neighborhood of 13 million iPod touches by the end of last last year. Where did this sudden burst of success come from and where’s Apple going to take it in the months ahead?
Yesterday, I got a marketing missive from Apple entitled, “iPod touch. More fun (and games) than you can image” (image below), pushing the device’s suitability as a mobile gaming platform, something my children and I have already wholeheartedly embraced. Also, this wünder widget’s crisp display and long battery life makes it a pretty darned nice little thing to curl up with—in bed at night or in a corner of the big couch—and watch a movie or TV shows on.
There’s absolutely nothing remarkable or much new about this new ad.
It seems more like a reminder, “Hey, I’m still here. Buy me.”
When Apple let us know that they had sold 13 million touches by the end of last year, people were pleasantly surprised at the device’s success. However, that number only encouraged me to think about others, like what percentage of those were first versus second generation models and what percentage of the App Store’s hundreds of millions of downloads can be attributed to Apple’s now “More fun (and games) than you can imagine” handheld ultra-mobile computer?
Perhaps the iPod touch’s growing success can be attributed to three things: 1.) last year’s buy a Mac, get a free iPod touch back to school promotion certainly moved a lot of units, 2.) Apple’s “funnest iPod ever” marketing refocus last Fall gave buyers a way to actually conceptualize the device as part of their lives, and 3.) the second generation product delivered a faster processor and better battery life at lower cost.
The iPod who?
I’m probably not alone in not remembering what angle Apple used in marketing the iPod before the back to school promo. It’s even more likely that every single one of us can at least hum Around the Bend (iTunes) by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, which brings to mind two other things: Apple’s amazing The funnest iPod ever (TV spot) and the languid sexuality of the band’s lead singer.
Whereas the double-take inducing gaming performance of the touch, enhanced by their advertisement’s slick editing, was clearly intended, Apple’s just as slickly chosen music had the fan boys wanting the touch for reasons that make social psychologists snigger.
Where I am going with this? Nowhere in particular other than to say Apple’s going to announce a new back to school promotion in a few weeks and I’m betting the iPod touch will be a central feature of that campaign. Moreover, this ongoing build out of the device’s market position, and installed base, is just a prelude to the roll out next September of the long whispered bigger and seriously badder “iPod touch on steroids.”
Perhaps I have hyper active imagination, but I thinking that’s when the fun and games will really get started…
What’s your take?
Related posts:
April 18th, 2009
“what percentage of those were first versus second generation models”
I have one of each.
January 13th, 2010
that was the worst thing i ever read and i hate reading but i have to read in class.