My post yesterday was about the BlackBerry and how it could make a comeback against the iPhone and Android. The thrust of the post was how BlackBerry needs a killer new smartphone and a branding makeover.
Today’s post is about the power of strong branding. It’s about the iPhone.
Lines are queuing up (figuratively, not literally) to buy the iPhone 5, which isn’t even out yet. There’s no better example of brand strength than that. The phone is supposed to come out this fall, but the buzz is already high.
Leading online shopping site PriceGrabber just did a survey of 2,852 online consumers regarding the new iPhone. Thirty-five percent said they were planning to buy the iPhone 5, either right when it comes out or in the first year. (Seven percent of those planning to buy said they’d do so in the first week, 14 percent in the first month, 30 percent before the end of the year, 51 percent within the first year.)
Sight unseen. The phone isn’t out yet.
Perhaps in anticipation of iPhone 5 sales, Apple stock has risen sharply in the last month. Mid-June it dipped from a year-to-date average of about $350 down to $320. Since then it’s jumped to around $400. (It broke the $400 barrier for the first time in the company’s history and is holding just a few dollars under that.)
Compare that to BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) and their stock performance this year—from holding steady around $60 a share during January through March to $25 since then.
RIM is planning to lay off 10 percent of its workforce—2,000 employees. Not exactly the action of a company confident in its future.
I think one stellar new phone that can rule both business and every day consumer markets could bring BlackBerry back. But layoffs don’t scream: “We’ve got something awesome in the works!”
Meanwhile, there’s no doubt of Apple’s strength, selling phones even before they come out on brand reputation and loyalty alone.
It’s the same basic product. But one company is soaring, the other falling—because of branding more than anything else, in my opinion. It’s an interesting thing to watch.
