The even bigger Apple

Last week in New York every single Apple store was completely besieged by consumers so desperate to get their hands on the iPhone4 that they were queueing all night and throughout some uncomfortably, sweltering, hot days. Of course this was all deja vu as much the same scenes greeted the launch of the iPad. It's not exactly a secret that Apple advocates are a particularly evangelical bunch yet the world of on line blogs and user reviews have noted that the latest iPhone is not necessarily without fault, yet when you see scenes like this (at about 22.00 at night) it's tempting to think that we may have to create some kind of superlative that goes beyond super or hyper brand. Many brands get past being a 'nice to have' and become some kind of personal characteristic or attribute; maybe the latest handbag from Prada or limited edition Porsche...but seldom do people put themselves through quite so much personal inconvenience to be ahead of the wave. In a very challenging economic environment Apple products seem to defy the laws of price elasticity and the benefit that brings to the balance sheet were very evident in the recent results. Thousands have offered opinions on what makes Apple so special and it seems pointless to add to that queue, instead I'll just make a single observation that it's a timely reminder that product integrity is everything. So those cutting corners in R&D and NPD may reflect on that before they have to explain away some insipid looking financials in about 2 years time