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Is it really shocking that a journalist's 101 ways to save a technology company were (mostly) way off? Those who can, do. Those who can't act like they can and

Is it really shocking that a journalist's 101 ways to save a technology company were (mostly) way off? Those who can, do. Those who can't act like they can and then write about it.

ugh 16y ago
Way off? Which list did you read?
- sudont 16y ago
  #8: Buy a song Status: Done It compares buying a song for marketing purposes to selling music, and then moves on to an unnamed allusion of what Microsoft did with "Start me up" to what Apple does with background music. The takeaway is that Apple should brand itself with a specific pop song that has existing cultural cache, which it never did. I consider that "way off."
  - bhousel 16y ago
    "The takeaway is that Apple should brand itself with a specific pop song that has existing cultural cache, which it never did." You can seriously think of no time in the past 15 years that Apple has done this? Edit: I'll give you a hint: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_used_by_Apple_Inc%2e http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_used_by_Apple_Inc%2e
    - sudont 16y ago
      Eh, can't win 'em all. I wasn't even within 40 miles of a mac in 2000, the Steppenwolf thing is news to me.
    - tesseract 16y ago
      I think it can be argued that Apple never created as much of a cultural sensation as Microsoft did with its use of "Start Me Up". On the other hand I've heard people refer to Yael Naim's "New Soul" as 'the Macbook Air song' on a few occasions.
mortenjorck 16y ago
Certainly there are a couple of ridiculous ideas in there, but some of them are shockingly prescient: "Don't disappear from the retail chains. Rent space in a computer store, flood it with Apple products...staff it with Apple salespeople..." "Get a great image campaign. Let's get some branding (or rebranding) going on." "Do something creative with the design of the box and separate yourselves from the pack. The original Macs stood out because of their innovative look. Repeat that. Get the folks at Porsche to design a box. Or Giorgio Giugiaro. Or Philippe Starck." "Give Steve Jobs as much authority as he wants in new product development...Even if Jobs fails, he'll do it with guns a-blazin', and we'll be spared this slow water torture that Amelio has subjected us to." "Dump (or outsource) the Newton, eMate, digital cameras, and scanners... Sell off the laser printer business." And seriously: "Build a PDA for less than $250 that actually does something: a) cellular email b) 56-channel TV c) Internet phone." Wired's 1997 article predicted Apple stores, the Jony Ive era of Apple industrial design, a decade's worth of iconic advertising, and the iPhone. I think we can forgive a suggestion or two about building Apple-branded UIs for washing machines.

Is it really shocking that a journalist's 101 ways to save a technology company were (mostly) way off? Those who can, do. Those who can't act like they can and then write about it.

ugh 16y ago

Way off? Which list did you read?

sudont 16y ago
#8: Buy a song Status: Done It compares buying a song for marketing purposes to selling music, and then moves on to an unnamed allusion of what Microsoft did with "Start me up" to what Apple does with background music. The takeaway is that Apple should brand itself with a specific pop song that has existing cultural cache, which it never did. I consider that "way off."
- bhousel 16y ago
  "The takeaway is that Apple should brand itself with a specific pop song that has existing cultural cache, which it never did." You can seriously think of no time in the past 15 years that Apple has done this? Edit: I'll give you a hint: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_used_by_Apple_Inc%2e http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_used_by_Apple_Inc%2e
  - sudont 16y ago
    Eh, can't win 'em all. I wasn't even within 40 miles of a mac in 2000, the Steppenwolf thing is news to me.
  - tesseract 16y ago
    I think it can be argued that Apple never created as much of a cultural sensation as Microsoft did with its use of "Start Me Up". On the other hand I've heard people refer to Yael Naim's "New Soul" as 'the Macbook Air song' on a few occasions.

mortenjorck 16y ago

Certainly there are a couple of ridiculous ideas in there, but some of them are shockingly prescient: "Don't disappear from the retail chains. Rent space in a computer store, flood it with Apple products...staff it with Apple salespeople..." "Get a great image campaign. Let's get some branding (or rebranding) going on." "Do something creative with the design of the box and separate yourselves from the pack. The original Macs stood out because of their innovative look. Repeat that. Get the folks at Porsche to design a box. Or Giorgio Giugiaro. Or Philippe Starck." "Give Steve Jobs as much authority as he wants in new product development...Even if Jobs fails, he'll do it with guns a-blazin', and we'll be spared this slow water torture that Amelio has subjected us to." "Dump (or outsource) the Newton, eMate, digital cameras, and scanners... Sell off the laser printer business." And seriously: "Build a PDA for less than $250 that actually does something: a) cellular email b) 56-channel TV c) Internet phone." Wired's 1997 article predicted Apple stores, the Jony Ive era of Apple industrial design, a decade's worth of iconic advertising, and the iPhone. I think we can forgive a suggestion or two about building Apple-branded UIs for washing machines.