A year ago if you had asked most of my friends their opinion of Netflix, they would have bestowed heaps of platitudes upon the DVD/streaming company. These days, you mention the company around many of my tech savvy friends, and you’ll be greeted by looks of disappointment, and in some cases vitriol. How does a company go from beloved to pitied and by some hated? Through a series of marketing missteps that could have easily been avoided.
Marketing Mishap #1: Splitting Plans and Raising Prices
I shall regard this as “First World Problems Day”. The amount of bitching and moaning that went on because of a price increase due to the splitting of the direct to mail DVD and streaming services, was amazing. We’ve seen a near collapse of our financial system here in the U.S., but I saw 100x the response when Netflix raised prices. Kind of shows where our priorities are doesn’t it?
So, what was the problem? Well, Netflix announced they would be splitting the plans, and charging new amounts for both. Before, for $10 you could have 1 DVD out at a time, and unlimited streaming. For people used to $5 rentals from Blockbuster in the 90s, it was a great deal. In July, Netflix told it’s customers it was time to cough up a bit more dough. The streaming plan starts at $8/month and 1 DVD out a month will cost you an additional $8/month. The 60% price raise caught many people by surprise, and created a lot of negative press for the company.
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Yesterday, my Twitter feed was swarming with people commenting about the “all new” iPhone 4S. The tweets were varied, some praising Apple for their foresight, some just happy to see a few new features on their phone of choice, and many others responded with a resounding “meh”.
First off, I have to give credit where credit is due. The iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone out there, but it certainly was the one that revolutionized it. Sure, touchscreen style smartphones had been gradually making their way onto the market, but Apple was the first one to have a dedicated push, and revolutionize it with solid apps. I’m sure many would be surprised just how primitive the first iPhone would look these days, but no one can deny that without it’s launch we wouldn’t be enjoying the plethora of phones at our grasp today.
That being said, this was probably the worst iPhone launch yet. Many expected a radical change in the iPhone, something that would continue to push the market. Instead, the phone seemed more of a response to competitors, rather than a one-up. So, what are the new features?
- Dual-core A5 processor – With the new upgrade in power Apple is put on an even playing field with many new smartphone devices that have come out this previous summer. The chipset is similar to the one in the larger iPad2. Apple claims that it is up to 7x faster than its current model, the 4G.
- Siri – The voice activated personal assistant who will retrieve certain data. Apple claims that you can actually hold a conversation with your iPhone. So, if you are short on friends, just buy a 4GS!
- Updated Camera – New 8-megapixel camera that is faster, and has a larger aperture. Think how much better those pictures you take of yourself in the mirror will look!
- Faster Download Speeds – Still stuck on 3G, but faster than the previous iteration.
- New Apps – Cards the app I saw everyone going crazy over. It allows you to have cards printed of your iPhone photos. I’m really trying to understand why people are so excited about this, but maybe it is because I don’t ever give greeting cards to people? For a digital platform, it seems kind of backwards.
- Notifications – Remember the notifications Android has had for years now? You can finally have that on iPhone too! Yeah, I know, when I heard I went and high-fived everyone I saw, because of how excited I am.
So, as you can see, no design changes, minimal changes to the OS, and upgrades that just move Apple even with the competition. Despite this, the Apple iPhone 4GS is possibly one of the best smartphones on the market, it just doesn’t have as much of a wow factor as previous releases.
What do you think Apple could have done better? Let us know in the comments!
