Perhaps MBA students should take this as one of their case studies, or perhaps some talents in producing copycats should stop what they are doing and think about it: The Power of Branding.
Undoubtedly, it is commonly believed that no people would consider the second best. When you are going to buy a new product but find that there is a flaw, I am sure you will probably not go for it. Would marking down the price help you change your mind? I am afraid not, and please don’t talk to me about “workarounds”. In the modern competitive world with full of alternatives, “flaw” just simply means “failure”.
However, I am indeed stunned that the eyeballs and sales are still on iPhone 4, even it is widely announced that there is a “flaw”: reception problem when you squeeze the antenna areas.
Many reports, like this, have already stated that iPhone has lost its edge to rivals like HTC Desire or Samsung Galaxy S, but why many people just can’t wait going for the product with “flaw”, just because it has the free case solution (i.e. “workaround”)?
If I have to put an explanation, just to my common sense, I could say that’s all about branding Apple had been building for decades. iPod, iPhone, iMac, MacBooks, etc. any brands from Apple are always successfully symbolized as “Fashioned”, “Simplified” or “Stylish”, although some are less successful.
But I still couldn’t imagine how powerful branding can be: to make so many people buy a phone that sometimes doesn’t function as a phone.
