This branding pundit wants to throw in his two cents on the new
iPad. I am not going to
weigh in on the technology. I'm not going to offer up my opinion on
the pricing, either on this device or that of its predecessors. I’m
not going to talk about how
Wall Street reacted after Apple CEO Tim Cook took
the podium to present his company’s latest iteration of the iconic
tablet. Rather, as someone with experience in the naming of brands
and brand offshoots, I want to share my thoughts on Apple’s
decision to call this third iPad the, well, the iPad. In my view,
the company can call it whatever it wants and calling it the iPad
makes sense for a couple of reasons.
First of all, when you’re the leader, when you’re the leader by
a long shot, you make the rules (and, in this case, the category),
and you can break the rules. What rule did Apple break? Not exactly
anything hard and fast, but more like the conventional wisdom that
says consumers want or need something sexy or more intergalactic to
emphasize that they have the latest, greatest model of whatever.
With technological products, this usually means something
alpha-numeric, like the XYZ-250, or the MT-33. It gives people the
satisfaction of knowing they’ve not only got the “next one,” but
that they’re one up on their friends and colleagues. Given that
Apple owns the category, for the foreseeable future anyway, I say
they don’t need any alpha-numeric nomenclature. Let the iPad become
(stay?) synonymous with the general functionality, like Kleenex or
Google or Xerox. When I
want the new iPad, I’ll just go into the Apple store and ask for
the new iPad. It’s that simple.
And that brings me to the second reason I think the company made
a smart decision in not giving the newest iPad a new name. It makes
it simpler for people. I want an iPad. How simple is that? I don’t
have to explain which iPad, other than saying the newest model or
the less expensive model. Despite the early jabs at the name, Apple
stood its ground and let the buzz go from negative to positive. The
name is what it is, and today everyone knows what it is and wants
one.
Bottom line? I think not giving its new version of the iPad a
new name was yet another in a long line of game changers on Apple’s
part. What does it want people to think about when they think about
tablets? It wants them to think iPad. They do.
From Forbes.com