Apple: Getting It All Wrong (at a time when brands are unaffordable)

  It was all wrong. And that was at a corporation whose signature was getting it perfectly, everything from the staging to the actual product. That's Apple.

Read the comments to The Wall Street Journal coverage of Apple's product event and the launch of new CEO John Ternus.

First, the staging. Here's this feedback:

I see that Ternus was wearing the obligatory jeans/tee shirt/sneakers outfit that Jobs introduced years ago. Teen girls in my neighborhood have a greater variety of outfits. This look is not cool."

As Apple should have known, Elizabeth Holmes already tried a version of that. The ghost of Steve Jobs didn't get her far, at least not for long.


Then there's the product. It's not unique. And it isn't a first out there. There's competition. And the other foldables are priced well below $1,999.


This is at a time when brands matter less and less. P&G, which invented brand management in the 1930s, has sluggish sales. I haven't bought Tide in about 18 months. Dollar stores stock laundry detergent going for a buck and a half.


There's no longer any compelling psychic or status reason to stick with Apple. No longer do any one of us explain why we do Android, not iOS.


In coaching, I warn clients to ditch the reliance on Tom Peters' personal branding. That was a different time. Employers want to know what you can do for them. Better, faster and cheaper than all the others applying for that job or contract assignment.


Careers. Forget all that. It’s about earning a good living, no matter what.

Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova, StreetSmart Coaching (janegenova374@gmail.com)


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