Give it to Apple to maximize the appeal of its brand cachet. I can’t think of any other tech company which can drum up the media into such a feverish pitch, the New York Times is reporting the iPhone has been the subject of 11,000 print articles and has about 69 million hits in Google. All before its June 29 launch.
It has been hailed both as revolutionary and flawed with both rave reviews and criticisms justified. It does things no phone has ever done before but it also lacks features found even on the most basic phones. Yet Wall Street analysts expect Apple to sell about three million phones within the first weeks. If it does so, that is already 30% of the 10 million Steve Jobs has predicted for first year sales.
Simply amazing.
But of course the real test comes after the first 3 million or so buyers – the bleeding edge junkies of your usual geeks and nerds and, in Apple’s case, the fashionistas who have to have the latest and fanciest fashion accessory (yup, iPhone’s sleek looks qualify it as such) – have sat down, played, and used their iPhones.
Their collective experience will determine whether the next wave of buyers, conservative consumers who rely on peer reviews and experiences to make purchasing decisions, will join the frenzy.
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