Andy Lark blogs today about the iPhone launch and PR strategies pursued thus far. He makes some good points. It's been something everyone who's interested in how products get to market should be looking at; it's clearly an outstanding example of creating buzz.
My key takeaway is that more than anything else, the buzz and anticipation shows the value of a strong brand. In many ways, what we've seen so far has been a pretty straightforward from a comms standpoint, but the overall impact has just been sensational. Why?
First, Apple did a great job of positioning the product early on, and sticking very closely to a key set of messages. As always, it's way easier to build buzz about a product when it demos well -- and boy did it!
Second, as Andy notes, Apple did a good job of controlling information. They do this better than just about any other company in tech, and have never been shy about using the carrot and stick approach -- the carrot is access to info and execs, and the stick comes down on any reporter/blogger who gets out of line.
Finally, and most importantly, there's the steve jobs reality distortion field. No, just kidding. Most importantly is the value that Apple has created in its brand -- it stands for simplicity, ease of use, innovation. The brand is so strong that it is able to withstand products (like apple tv) that don't quite live up to previous products (iPod). Why does this matter? Because it allows the iPhone to be judged in that context of innovation and ease of use, as a package, and not simply for what it does. As some of the reviews note, many of the individual functions the phone offers are not all that great, but the reviews are not focused on the features, but on the impact of all of them together. It is hard to imagine Walt Mossberg listing the not great features but still reaching the conclusion that the product is "beautiful and (a) breakthrough" if the review was not in the context of previous engagement with the brand and the imperative to consider the phone as much more than the sum of its parts.
I disagree with Andy that:
Everything that preceded it was simply so bad a gaping space was waiting to be filled. Today it is the same in the consumer device space.
The existing smartphones are pretty good. They might not be an iPhone :) but they are more competition than the world is letting on. Take it from me, the guy who bought a Newton 120!