The Apple iPhone has been a tremendous marketing success. This week (today, in fact), Apple’s iTunes Apps Store just distributed its one billionth application for the iPhone. This last quarter, Apple shipped over three and a half million iPhones. Profits are up and things are looking good.
Well, except for that one misguided iPhone app debuting this week. The “Baby Shaker” app.
“This application was deeply offensive and should not have been approved for distribution on the App Store,” said Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokesperson. ”When we learned of this mistake, the app was removed immediately. We sincerely apologize for this mistake and thank our customers for bringing this to our attention.”
Amid all great news, someone always seems to have to spoil the party, don’t they.
Fortunately, Apple not only did the right thing by removing the app, they promptly apologized and, more importantly, they acknowledged the role Apple customers had in making the recall possible. Whatever the lingering lifespan this app is likely to have in the ether that is the Internet, it’s unlikely Apple will be tainted as a result.
The Apple brand has its loyal advocates and acolytes. They received the recognition they were do and, no doubt, see themselves as part of the Apple tribe responsible for keeping the brand pure as a result of this action and public recognition.
All in all, it’s a great example of positive brand reinforcement with your key audiences. Kudo’s to Apple.
And for those of you really interested in learning more about the state of Apple’s iPhone apps, I strongly suggest your read Nicholas Kolakowski’s story in eWeek. Very interesting and informative.
Sometimes the infatuation Apple brand evangelists feel is a bit too much for me. I’m not so proud to re-count the nightmarish experiences I’ve had with random Mac-heads in airports – but that’s another story for another time.
This picture gives you an idea of what unbridled brand loyalty can do. In this particular case, an APple fan in Japan “branded” his crop of Fuji apples with the Apple trademark, iPods and Apple/Heart marks by adhearing stickers to the fruits while they were rippening. You can read more about it on the PSFK blog.
What started out as a humorous video we found on The Hidden Persuader blog turned us onto a much more interesting story of intellectual property protection involving a small development firm (Hottrix) and Coors – with Apple stuck in the middle of the entire imbroglio.
Hottrix has produced a number of applications for the iphone that leverage the device’s unique sensing features. One in particular, iBeer, is a favorite (#22) on the iphone appstore and costs only $3 to download. But its vaunted position and revenue potential were initially threated by a free application offered by Coors called iPint.
According to news sources, the two applications were virtually identical and Hottrix moved quickly to have iPint removed from the appstore and made a $12.5 million claim against Coors. You can read more about it here.
For marketers, the implications are pretty clear: intellectual property for new media devices (like iphones) is subject to the same protection as other entertainment property like music, images, etc. And in a social media environment, there is a high likelihood that a staggering financial loss can be racked up in a very short amount of time. Check your sources carefully and make sure you take the right precautions before giving away “the next big thing” for free.
