Blog

Apple Vision Pro is a new product created by Apple. It allows users to see and interact with digital content as if it were part of the real world. It responds to eye movements, hand gestures, and voice commands.

Apple launched a new laptop in November 2023. The basic design stayed the same, but they updated it with a new processor, the M3, making the computer more powerful. They also introduced a new color, a dark gray, close to black, exclusive to some models targeting professionals.

When I was seeing this film, I was imagining the original board of OpenAI as the "boss". And the girl who makes the film… who is she in the real life for you?

How a computer company presents the default characteristics is a decisive marketing decision. It guides the consumer, it helps him to choose the right product for their needs.

I love Apple. I try to read all the books that are somewhat related. Here are the ones that I like more. They helped me to learn things about technology, marketing and brand.

Some terms like Metaverse and Web3 work like brands. They encapsulate complex ideas in one word. It helps to communicate faster. It also promotes those concepts.

I do not love the iMac with bright colors. I think they look childish. It would be nice to have one of those for some weeks but not for some years. Probably I am not the target audience. Perhaps they are ok for the bedroom of some kid or a fashion store.

There are different ways to perceive brands: 1- UNDERSTAND a brand’s characteristics in a rational way. 2- EXPERIENCE all the things around the brand and all the relationships between it. 3- FEEL the emotional connection between the human, the characteristics of the product and everything around it. No one has discussed the third element, which I think is the most relevant one for decision making.

The evolution of many innovations depends on power storage. Phones, tablets, laptops, cars, electricity at home and in companies. The improvement of the technologies in power storage could have a dramatic positive effect in many fields. It could make energy cheaper and eventually free.

If we ask people to draw any logo from memory, most of them will have problems. I have also seen a lot of studies where the consumers do not remember most tv spots or cannot marry each story with their brand. We could apply that to any form of communication: logos and ads but also packaging, jingles, you name it. Does this mean that marketing and communication are not useful? What are marketers making wrong?

Twitter could be a good media platform for companies to reach people, but it still has a lot of problems and limitations. Here I will talk about what Twitter could do to improve and be a better channel to place ads.

Why is Nike selling on Amazon? Nike already has an excellent web site and physical stores in all major cities of the world. To be in Amazon means to give a cut to them and also lose some control over sales, but also brand. Nike is well known and influential, why does it accept to be under brand like Amazon?

There is a lot of innovation in distribution. Technology applied to supermarkets will change very soon how we buy products. It is interesting to see the marketing strategy that the protagonists are following. Amazon and Alibaba are the two big ones, and each one has its area of influence. They have both presented a video where they explain their first steps in that field. If we analyze them, we can see the marketing distribution strategy behind them.

Walt Mossberg explained that ambient computing is "the transformation of the environment all around us with intelligence and capabilities that don't seem to be there at all." With ambient computing the user can interact with the computer without worrying where it is. We could ask what we need with our voices, a keyboard, or a pencil. The device that processes that information could be anywhere in the environment. In the building where we are, in the clothes we wear, or in a remote server we connect to with a new kind of wifi.

New tech destroys jobs. What can we do about it? Some experts say that technology will also create new jobs. The product that suffers the innovation gets cheaper, so the consumption increases and companies need more people to satisfy the demand. In the end, the new technology creates more occupations than it destroys. There is also another factor that no one comments on...

In 2017, Apple launched the iPhone X with minimal bezels and face recognition and the iPhone 8 with some internal innovations but a similar design to the previous year. If they can do an innovative product like the X, why do they even bother to create the 8 with that big old frame? There are technical reasons—with the iPhone X, they introduce new technologies that are hard to make on a large scale. There are also marketing and strategic factors. Apple segmented the market into two groups that have different reactions to innovations.

Andy Rubin, the father of Android, is behind the Essential Phone. When it launched, it had some technical features that made it unique. It stood out among a sea of me-too Androids. What I find most intriguing is the marketing behind its release: what's the strategy and the positioning in the market? Why does it have no brand?

It's been many years without any sign of Scott Forstall. He was one of the vice-presidents of Apple when they launched the iPad and iPhone. He left Apple in 2012. In June 2017, he accepted a public interview. He wears a very special shirt.

Scott Forstall appeared publicly on June 2017. It was the first time he accepted an interview since he left Apple in October 2012. It was an interesting conversation during which we could hear his point of view about the creation of the iPhone and the iPad.

I only want to have three computers. Two would be even better. Desktop computer, laptop, tablet, mini tablet, smartphone. There are too many devices. It is expensive to have everything, but it is also hard to keep them updated.

I have no smartphone, in fact, I do not want a phone. At the same time, I love technology. I like it so much that I professionally develop apps for phones. Marketing and new technologies are not only my job, but they are also my passion.

To satisfy customer needs what works best is to solve a big problem for a small group of people. The best products and services, the most useful, focus first on small segments. With that specialization, they can solve problems that are relevant. Small companies can help a few a lot. They can make a significant impact. That is an advantage over multinational corporations.

An external monitor could be essential for a laptop. Many products on the market pay attention to the resolution. Only Apple prioritize design and brand. But the Pro Display has a price and characteristics that make it suitable only for very high-end professionals. There is still a need in the market that no one tries to satisfy.

Apple has a line of products with the word "Pro" at the end of the name. Examples include Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, and iPad Pro. They are the most powerful and expensive in their category. The term has also become a way to designate a type of Apple user. Perhaps it is more generic, a tech user. But, what exactly is a Pro?.

In the previous posts, I talked about the future of computers. I pointed out the marketing strategies that are on the table both for the short-term and mid-term duration. Today, I will talk about the future of the keyboard and the mouse as they play a significant role in the future of computers.

Thin, light and with a Touch Bar that substitutes the function keys. That is what you hear about the MacBook Pro 2016. It is the Apple laptop for professionals. Thin, light, Touch Bar are marketing distractions. I think Apple focuses the attention in the wrong place. For a professional, none of those things can solve any of their main problems. The other technical features have a second place in the communications. That gives the image that the MacBook Pro is not Pro.

The future of computers in a simple imfographic

I think the future of computers and its marketing strategies have three big chapters. Touch, cloud and virtual reality.

Computers with touch screens or more powerful tablets? Microsoft sees the future of computers with the touchscreen. Apple thinks the iPad is the future of computers. They both make technology evolve from two different starting points. They also represent two marketing strategies.

All the big players in the tech world are developing technologies to recognize the voice. There are significant differences in the marketing strategy.

Amazon has an ecosystem of devices and technologies designed to give information. The user can activate it only by voice. The technology is fantastic. The marketing, confusing.

There are new technologies that let us have information using only our voice. All the big players in the tech world have its system. Siri, Cortana, Alexa, Google. Here I will talk about the marketing differences, and the strategy in each case.

Most of the big and growing companies copy each other's technology. It is an imperfection of the system, and we are all trapped there. What is harder to understand is when they try to emulate the design, the tone, the style. That is like stealing the soul of a brand.

We see a lot of new technologies that are reactionary. Each company makes their version of what the other has already done. They need to develop that technology to compete at the same level.

When companies are big and growing everybody copies everybody. Products from different brands become similar.

In a previous post, I explained why a lot of companies want to grow. It has benefits for investors, shareholders, executives and even workers. But, is it good for customers and, more importantly, for us as a collective? What are the repercussions for the society?

Being small is good. It has many advantages for the firm and many benefits for society. But I always hear talk about ways to grow. I think we should make a step back and consider why do you want growth? Is it good for everybody?

In this post, I will talk about the intangible things that conform Tesla brand: the mission, the environment, and the founder. It is the continuation of the post: Tesla Brand 1. There you can read more about the role of the technology, the physical features and the logo in the brand. You can read each one independently.

The brand is the group of elements that distinguishes a product from another. Everybody thinks about the physical characteristics and the graphic. But many other factors build a brand. In Tesla, the mission of the company and the personality of the founder have a significant role. We all can learn from that brand, things that we can apply to smaller firms.

In mature markets where technology is not decisive, brand creation is crucial for innovation. The first step is to group consumers and users in a different way.

We usually think that to innovate we must be in a new market that has a direct relation with new technologies. In mature markets, technology is not the nuclear activity. But, here it is also possible to innovate.

The graphic representation of the products in Apple is uncommon. I am referring to iMac, MacBook, iPod, iPhone, iPad. They are some of the most powerful brands in the world, but their graphic is "soft." They do not have color; they do not have a strong personality, they are close to plain text.

Apple has a graphic representation of recycling that I think it is relevant. When it appeared, there was no official presentation. Nobody commented it. Now still, it goes unnoticed.

They are innovative, funny, young, informal, joyful and... old, very old brands. We can apply these concepts to different products and services. Just a few and in exceptional circumstances were able to keep an outdated product and give it a new life. Some old brands can use new marketing.

On March 21, 2016, Apple presented Liam, a robot that helps to recycle iPhones. In April 2018 they substitute it for a similar robot called Daisy. It disassembles the pieces of returned and damaged iPhones. Apple engineers have designed a machine the only job is to dismantle other Apple machines. Daisy is an impressive technology and a significant step to helping the environment by recycling phones. But, more important than that, it is an example of well-planned marketing.

Technology defines the product and its characteristics. But we forget that what is more relevant for the user is how he or she lives the relation with that product or service. Features and technology are not an end but a mean. What is important is how the consumer feels when he or she is with our product.

Facebook ads are useful for Facebook. They are beneficial for small firms too. At least in the short term and some circumstances. But nobody talks about if they are good for the users. Click here to see an infographic with an explanation about the subject.

The user needs to feel. There is no time to understand nor reason. The consumer does not spend a lot of time thinking about our product. He usually does not analyze advantages and disadvantages in a cold way. We can go beyond the rational analysis. We can go beyond the brand experience, too. Sensations are what make the difference.

Online advertising has a lot of advantages over traditional advertising. It can reach small groups of people at a low cost. That makes it a useful tool for small firms. But it has a lot of limitations too. It has to evolve to make it engaging and helpful to the end user. Click here to see an infographic I designed that could help to have a global vision of the subject.

I love advertising - TV spots that only have 30 seconds, a page in a magazine, the homepage of a website, a beautiful app on my phone. Sometimes they make me smile, think, move me, I can dream of new possibilities. But online advertising is not attractive for consumers.

Marketing uses entertainment as a tool. Mixing communication and entertainment is one of the new trends in marketing. New technologies give us access to more information. All the products need differentiation to be heard among the crowd. Talking about features and benefits is not enough. Now it is necessary to convey feelings and emotions, and entertainment is an excellent way to do that.

Often, we communicate what we feel, both with words and gestures. When you love someone, you think good things about that person. You consider that what they say is interesting. Perhaps, you might not agree sometimes, but you like the way they say it or the reasoning behind it. You think, for instance, that she has a big nose but even that is nice, or it is ok this way. And if you feel all those things, your words, but also, and your silences and gestures will reveal it.

There are some products that we buy for rational reasons. We are looking for some features at a reasonable price. Those products are not meaningful for us. We just want them to work and, from that point, we look at the lowest possible price. The differences with other brands are not relevant. We can consider in that category, generic brands or many of the things that companies buy. In other cases, the heart is also necessary. When we buy, we do not analyze only features and price. A product may give us something more that's hard to describe. We become willing to pay a little more for that intangible asset.

In business communication, people focus their attention primarily on texts and designs: texts that make conversions or subscriptions; designs that are spectacular and make people share in social media. But today I will talk about what is beyond copy and image, in fact, what you remember when you forget the form and even the content.

Rebranding studies the best way to make a brand evolve. The process encompasses the name, the design and what is around. Marketing and concept are the hidden parts but perhaps the most important. Rebranding tries to reflect better the actual situation of the company or product.

Brand building is a process for everybody. The generic brand needs to live under the protection of another brand. If your brand is generic, it just means that someone else has the control. If you want to evolve, improve and drive that process, you need to create your brand.

3D Touch is a technology that lets the user perceive different levels of pressure on a screen. 3D Touch is also a brand. The marketing makes possible to condense and communicate a complex technology. But 3D Touch meaning is in construction.

Lets talk about marketing, its most innovative and avant-garde aspects and the impact of new technologies in this field