Apple Math: IPHONE+ITV+IPOD= PAYDAY

In what has become a growing trend, Apple has once again out done themselves in the department of innovation. With the IPHONE, ITV, new IPOD lines due out soon they plan to forge ahead into the consumer electronics arena full speed ahead. They even changed their name to Apple Inc. Its said their profit margin just on the IPHONE alone will be 50% since they decided to not allow carriers to discount the phone or amortize it with packaged plans.

But what about the APPLE brand being tainted by the S.E.C's investigation into Steve Jobs stock options? Will that hurt or improve sales? Its actually neither. The only impact it had was on the stock price,which is short term anyways. I think Mr Jobs gets a little more grace than his couterpart Bill Gates. Ever since Gates toughed it out with the justice department not long ago he earned himself a reputation as an untouchable. People don't like untouchable people in my humble opinion.

When you're the CEO you are the brand in a way. If you're charming people will still give you a second chance. Mr. Jobs comes across as the underdog trying to rebuild a company that once had to take a loan from Microsoft for $150mil to stay afloat. Of coarse that wasn't out of Mr Gates heart was it? If he didn't give Apple the money he would be accused of Monopoly by the ever pressing justice department hearings he was going through at the time. He had to keep Apple afloat just so there was an actual competitor to compete against.

Just look at Martha Stewart. She got out of jail and went right back to work. Now that is brand loyalty if I've ever seen it. If Bill Gates got into that kind of trouble people would taunt him like the Sadaam Hussein hanging recorded on someone's cell phone.

Power is interesting isn't it. Leadership is too. They are intertwined together. Martha Stewart gets a slap on the hand, Jobs gets nothing and Bill Gates wouldn't get a second chance. Funny how that plays out. Bill Gates is the wealthiest man alive but also one of the most disliked. Why is that? He opened up the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the largest ever grant making entity ever. But people still don't like him.

Now take Warren Buffet,the second wealthiest man, people really like him and admire him. Why is that? BECAUSE HE IS LIKABLE. People love to support people they like. Its emotional. Did you ever vote for a politician you hated? Probably not. You certainly aren't friends with people you dislike. When is the last time you asked someone you couldn't stand out to lunch? Exactly!

It's true. People support people they like. Richard Branson is a likable guy. So is Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines. Will I buy a Microsoft keyboard even if I don't like Bill Gates, sure. But will I evangelize how great Microsoft and Bill Gates are? Probably not. That might not impact Microsoft sales directly, but if Mr. Gates got into any trouble you can be sure no one would be there to give him the grace they give the others. You can bet your Vista on that.

Overall, it's an interesting story on the state of branding and the likability factor of the CEO in corporate America. I'm sure the IPHONE will be a major success even if they discovered Mr Jobs was guilty of stock option fraud. They could haul him off to jail with his IPHONE in hand and he would find a way to do MACWORLD at FEDWORLD.

Comments

[Lyle]

I enjoyed the humour in this post.

Here in Canada we love to hate our national air carrier, Air Canada. It's CEO, Robert Milton, is a very arrogant, unlikeable man.

On the other hand, the up and coming West Jet has a very likeable CEO, Clive Bedoe. And, even though his company was caught hacking into Air Canada's passenger data base and was fined $ 15 million as a result... people forgive Clive.
And, would cheer if Milton was fired or was charged with anything!

That being said, does that mean we one-man businesses need to work on our likeability quotient?

Lyle
www.TheUnstickingCoach.com

[Ankesh Kothari]

Interesting post. Good point about Bill Gates getting a reputation of being untouchable.

You see this reaction in sports all the time. People hate Michael Schumacker. And many hated Stefi Graff when she played.

People always cheer for the under dog.

Thats the reason behind Avis's success. "We Try Harder because we are No. 2."

I read this somewhere - most of the best magicians make an insignificant error during their act on purpose. This allows the audience to connect with them - and think that they aren't "untouchable" - they make errors too.