Apple iPhone: It’s the features, stupid!
Friday, June 22, 2007 - 10:06 AM EST "A recent study by Compete Inc. asked 680 potential iPhone shoppers this question: 'How important would each of the following be on your decision to purchase an iPhone?" The results were revealing," Marc E. Babej and Tim Pollak report for Forbes.• Price of the device: 81%
• Performance of the phone: 77 %
• Battery life: 76%
• Overall ease of use: 75%
• Design/look of device: 46%
• Ease of using touch screen: 45%
• Ability to synch device with music collection: 44%
• Wi-fi: 37%
• Ease of accessing e-mail: 37%
• And, in last place: The fact that Apple makes the device: 32%
Babej and Pollak write, "You mean, all the anticipation is about the actual, physical product and its features--and the Apple brand is at the bottom of the list? ... Could it be that great brands are the product (no pun intended) of something other than branding? In fact, they are! What's more, branding and great brands are made of altogether different stuff. Branding seeks to transcend tangible benefits, or even compensate for their absence. But great brands are built from the inside out, on tangible benefits. Branding seeks to create reality through perceptions, engendered by compelling communications."
Babej and Pollak write, "Great products speak for themselves."
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Nathan" for the heads up.]


Well, it's not the features per se, but how they're implemented. Remember, those who trash-talk the iPhone point out the features it doesn't have.