Today Apple, INC. was to release their pre-orders for the new generation of iPhone, the iPhone 4. However the store was down and it seemed the problem was the validation communication with AT&T. In any event, what I wanted to write about was the human behavior behind the whole new iPhone.
The iPhone Classic where mostly black. The 3G was mostly black and the 3GS had a white phone option. Now, reading what the online community is saying, there is a high demand for white iPhones. Why? Simple.
1. Limited Availability. The Apple store had no available white iPhones. Only Black ones. Therefore that instantaneously cause people to desire it more through the law of scarcity. Scarcity makes it more valuable.
2. It is different yet the same. People perceive the white iPhone to be cooler because it is the same Iphone but at the same time it looks different than everybody else’s phone; at least that is the perception. The reality is that if everybody wants to be cool by having a white iPhone they undoubtedly become part of a group and less of unique. In our minds, we want to be accepted and to be unique at the same time. We want to be part of the iPhone user community but at the same time we want to be perceived as special within that group. That is precisely why I think that the “bumpers” or the cases by Apple are going to perform so well. They allow people to have the same Iphone but make it unique – personalize it and make you unique.
3. It is more visible. The visibility of a white phone is higher than a black phone. The reason is simple, the white color reflects and refracts light, the black color tends to absorb light. By being more visible, others notice the phone a lot more serving as social iconography and allow people to be identified as part of a select group of special users. This can also be seeing in the usage of the white earpieces.
4. It is different. People get bored extremely easily and therefore they need new stimulation to remain interested. That is what a white case can do. That is what 200,00 + apps are doing for the iPhone. That is what the “rearrangement of the icons” in your screen is doing for the iphone. Every single way in which you can change your iPhone to make it different than before is helping produce that particular feeling.
5. It is not different enough. Imagine how unpopular zebra green and pink iphones would be. The reason is simple, that color combination is not popular in the culture. Therefore if it is too different to make it stand out negatively then people wouldn’t like it.
Strategically speaking, we can all learn from Apple’s ability to combine all those elements to make people desire their products with a passion.
Implement this tactics yourself and start enjoying similar results in the marketplace.
Until next time,
Alex Centeno MBA.
Creative Director & Digital Media Strategist
Merkados Interactive Partners
