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Will Apple Finally Have to Embrace Social Media?

By Tac Anderson ⋅ August 4, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment
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Image representing Apple as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

As I was flipping through one of my favorite start pages I couldn’t help but notice something. Let’s see if you notice it to:

Notice a theme here? Do you know what that is? That’s Apple entering the main stream. Now yes, Apple has been main stream for a few years but until now they’ve been able to act like the cool outsider who jeered and derided, well pretty much everybody.

I’ve wondered out loud how it is that Apple could get away with the approach they take to Social Media (aka hatred and disdain). They have had a very clear lack of presence. There was no need for them to get involved. Why would they waste their time, attention and money on social media when all their fan boy’s took care of hyping them, building buzz, monitoring their brand and defending their virtue?

But things are different now. Apple’s is no longer just a threat to Microsoft (and every PC manufacturer). They have become the main threat to every mobile phone company. And they are now a threat to their biggest ally, Goolge. But competition is nothing new to Apple. The current scale and pressure they are facing is something new but something else has changed.

When you compete in the main stream not every customer is willing to put up with your little idiosyncrasies. As you scale not every manufacturing partner plays by your rules. As your platform gets bigger not every developer is willing to put up with your rules.

Consumers don’t trust size. As you get bigger people don’t trust you. This is why so many companies have become more transparent and are engaging in social media. Openness and transparency are not in Apple’s DNA. The sad thing is that they would have to do so little to have a big impact.

Now that the honeymoon is over will people continue to accept Apple’s lack of transparency and lack of presence in social media? I don’t know, we’ll see.

(Microsoft, T-Mobile and HTC are all clients of my employer Waggener Edstrom. Please see my disclosure)

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About Tac

Social media anthropologist. Communications strategist. Business model junkie. Chief blogger here at New Comm Biz.

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  • http://www.ethanbauley.com Ethan Bauley

    we're having a bit of a convo about this over at my place, i dropped a link to you in a comment, c'mon down if you have a sec

    http://www.ethanbauley.com/post/143762046/we-be…

  • http://www.ethanbauley.com Ethan Bauley

    did you see this?

    “Phil Schiller Responds Regarding Ninjawords and the App Store”

    http://daringfireball.net/2009/08/phil_schiller…

    Key passages:

    “I believe Phil Schiller that Apple’s policy is not to reject App Store dictionaries for containing swear words. However, it’s clear this policy has not been consistently enforced by the App Store review team. The problem, as I see it, is not that one or more App Store reviewers were unaware that it is acceptable for dictionaries to contain words that are not acceptable in other contexts. Mistakes are inevitable. The problem is that there’s no good recourse for developers to appeal such a mistake.”

    “Here’s how Schiller closed1 his email to me:

    “Apple’s goals remain aligned with customers and developers — to create an innovative applications platform on the iPhone and iPod touch and to assist many developers in making as much great software as possible for the iPhone App Store. While we may not always be perfect in our execution of that goal, our efforts are always made with the best intentions, and if we err we intend to learn and quickly improve.

    “This is music to my ears. That Schiller was willing to respond in such detail and length, on the record, is the first proof I’ve seen that Apple’s leadership is trying to make the course correction that many of us see as necessary for the long-term success of the platform.”

    My take: they've got all the right instincts and will pilot moves towards openness when the benes outweigh the drawbacks (in their view).

    For a company that's executing like apple is, it's tough for me to second guess them.

    Any thoughts? This is pretty interesting and I haven't geeked out like this in a few months, so pardon my zeal ;-)

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com tacanderson

    I'm really, really curious to see how the next 12 months pans out for Apple.

    As someone who is platform agnostic (I own many Apple, Windows and
    Linux products) I appreciate what their focus on design but have
    always resented their closed culture.

    The “backlash” we're swing now is a lagging indicator. Big companies
    even Apple, move slowly. For the first time in a long time Apple is
    having to be a little reactive. Can they keep executing like they have
    been when they're having to react and the best channel they have to do
    that with is an email?

    Is it possible? Yes. Is it likely? I'm a skeptic.

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com tacanderson

    I'm really, really curious to see how the next 12 months pans out for Apple.

    As someone who is platform agnostic (I own many Apple, Windows and
    Linux products) I appreciate what their focus on design but have
    always resented their closed culture.

    The “backlash” we're swing now is a lagging indicator. Big companies
    even Apple, move slowly. For the first time in a long time Apple is
    having to be a little reactive. Can they keep executing like they have
    been when they're having to react and the best channel they have to do
    that with is an email?

    Is it possible? Yes. Is it likely? I'm a skeptic.

  • http://www.ethanbauley.com Ethan Bauley

    No question it's going to be interesting, thanks for sharing some
    thoughts with me…E

  • http://www.taylordavidson.com/writing/2009/08/07/continuing-a-conversation-on-apple-social-media-and-transcendant-product-experiences/ Continuing a Conversation on Apple, Social Media and “Transcendant Product Experiences” | Taylor Davidson

    [...] Will Apple Finally Have to Embrace Social Media? [...]

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com/google-falls-for-the-hype-cycle-with-wave/ New Comm Biz » Google Falls For The Hype Cycle with Wave

    [...] Will Apple Finally Have to Embrace Social Media? (newcommbiz.com) [...]

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com/will-flip-fight-back-against-apple-or-is-it-too-late/ Will Flip Fight Back Against Apple, or is it too Late? | New Comm Biz

    [...] Will Apple Finally Have to Embrace Social Media? (newcommbiz.com) [...]

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