Yeah, but if they sell to 1% of their site visitors... then they'll still be making money. People who buy apple are doing so more for the name brand than for the actual quality. (I'm not saying quality is bad, just that there a plenty of other companies that produce electronic devices that are just as good if not better).
Interesting argument, that the name brand should carry more weight than the quality of the article. That's truly the definition of a "fanboy".
I must say I take offense to being called an apple fanboy. I researched different tablets first because I felt Apple was too expensive. However, it was the only one that didn't appear klunky, or had a decent battery, or wouldn't be a random dice roll on whether an app would work or not on it. In the end, I went with the ipad because it "just worked". I took the same approach before deciding on the PS3 (yes, even though it was free with my points), and with the TV. A fanboy doesn't do research except to justify their purchase. I was honestly hoping to find a better price/quality option.
You read into that post very deeply... perhaps too deeply. I was using generalities both for consumers and for apple. I would agree the ipad is the best thing out there right now for that technology (waiting to see what the playbook can do). However, there are a lot of companies who compete well against apple's other products, but don't have the social pedigree that apple does... That does not mean they are worse, just that they are not as 'hip.' While you yourself are like me in that we research a product ad nauseam that doesn't mean my point is invalid.
Apple has a marketing ability that is second to none. Hip marketing translates into sales regardless of product. Sustained sales can only come from sound product. Luckily for apple they have both. When a company only has one or the other their sales will flounder.
But this point of a purchase is based more on brand than performance is not merely relegated to the electronics world. Luis Vuiton bags carry a great social statement and are sought after, but there are millions of other carrying bags that are more practical, useful, less expensive that don't have the Vuiton Zeitgeist. Same with competitors of Apple products...
My issue wasn't that your point can't be true, just that it wasn't always true. Brand loyalty isn't always the reason for buying that brand, and a brand can be popular because of quality over being "hip".
Dell has never been a "hip" vendor, but I will always consider them for technology purchases because of their quality of service.
I never said brand is always the number one reason for any particular purchase (though after re-reading my original post I can see why one might think that).
I acknowledged that brand is not always the #1 factor in a purchase by a particular consumer (namely you and I), but generally I think it IS the #1 reason purchases are made in general. From cars, to medication, to electronics, to whatever... Marketing plays on people's sense of worth... having the latest toys/products etc. Look at Toyota's MASSIVE recall... it didn't affect their sales because people look to the brand even after quality was severely questioned in the US government!
While Dell has never been hip, at least your opinion (I think they are the hippest thing since the invention of circumcision), they do have a marketing juggernaut backing them. Dell though is a little different and doesn't really compare well with apple. They don't produce their own goods do they? They are, more than anything, a vendor of other companies' goods. So for them they are marketing their service above all else. It's awfully hard to market service as sexy or hip. Insurance is an example...
FYI the massive Toyota recall did affect their sales, trust me! Also, things are often less visible than what you'll see immediately.. with the increased quality on the GM product in recent years, the effect of the massive Toyota recall will be years in showcasing it's real impact (primarily because of the long purchase cycle for automobiles)...
But that wasn't meant to detract from the actual point of the discussion...
Apple is one of the best examples of a name brand selling beyond it's quality.. don't get me wrong, their quality IS good, but not so good as to warrant the value they've built up. I don't own an I-anything, and I probably won't (not for some time anyhow) because I simply can't buy in to the value proposition. I think what they make is incredible, and I would probably be willing to pay out the amount for say an I-pad or I-phone or whatever, but then the fact that you need to buy their I-cord and I-holster and I-whatever other accessory would irk me to no end.. sure I don't need ALL of them, but even to buy replacement cords or whatever, every time I bought something new it would serve to make me dislike the brand more and more... obviously I am in the minority with how these things sell.
But the I digress.. the most amazing thing Apple has done (at least in my opinion) is how they built up their product name so strongly, that it makes people look past product faults... if you go online there is no end to how many bad opinions you CAN find - from batteries, headphones, cables not having great life spans to problems with with applications and more. Somehow, despite anything bad being said about their products, they've built enough equity into the brand name that every time they bring something new to the table, the masses buy it out and wind up waiting in lines, auctioning the things off for even GREATER dollar values (despite the fact that IF these people simply waited a couple weeks or a month they could simply buy it at face value).
I must tip my hat to the Apple marketers for being savvy bastards.. I wish I was part of the team that started that ball rolling!!
My issue wasn't that your point can't be true,ipad 2 case just that it wasn't always true.leather ipad 2 cases;Brand loyalty isn't always the reason for buying that brand, and a brand can be populariPad2 case because of quality over being "hip".
Dell has never been a "hip" vendor, but I will always consider them for technology purchases because of their quality of service.
Apple has a marketing ability that is second to none.  Hip marketing translates into sales regardless of product.  Sustained sales can only come from sound product.  Luckily for apple they have both.  When a company only has one or the other their sales will flounder.
I think we've gotten our first spam post! Time to celebrate...
I've never quite understood the point of automatically posting sections of a thread back at itself. Is it really trying to "advertise" the iPad 2 leather cases using that oh so subtle insertion of bolded terms into what Scholten "quoted" me as saying?
Is it trying to up the term count for google or something? Like that would make much of a difference here. Nobody links to this site. Hence its google rank should be pretty low already.
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