Nerve Endings Firing Away

Why does everything announced by Apple have to be surrounded with so much hype? I’m talking about the iPhone which went on sale few minutes ago. Nope, I’m not live-blogging from the line outside the store. Although the reviews have been quite flattering for the phone, the exorbitant cost and compatibility with only AT&T-Cingular plans are big disadvantages.

I find it extremely surprising that the regular mainstream media has hopped on the hype bandwagon when in fact, any previous Apple releases have been geek-dominated. Of course, geeks are a lucrative market – blind loyalty, tons of money, and tendency to spread the word virally – now through blogs. But I was surprised to see our local newspaper and morning talk shows sprout niceties about this product. Meredith Viera blew a iPhone stunt on live TV and blurted out that she knew Steve Jobs was counting on them. So I guess in exchange for handing out few desperately-sought iPhones around the TV station, Apple is getting tons of publicity in return. Note that Apple isn’t entertaining any celebrities who wishes to lay their hands on the product unless they are willing to flaunt it in public. So why even pit Paris Hilton against the iPhone in the battle of the hype? Just hand her an iPhone to flaunt on the Larry King Show and everywhere she goes. I’m sure, her fans will make a beeline to the nearest Apple store because whatever Paris does, they should do too, right? Bah!

But strictly in a business sense, hasn’t Apple just fine tuned their strategy by reducing supply of its products and ramping up the marketing campaigns naturally leading to high prices it can demand from its consumers? The premium for the ‘cool factor’ is pretty high for any Apple product. But I am sure no one is thinking of the cost when they are lining up to buy an iPhone. I often wonder how people who can spend days lining up outside the store can afford to buy it in the first place unless they are standing in for someone else.