• by January 9, 2009

Excellent insights that I think only scratch the surface of all the things Apple has done wrong to their brand just over the past few months. I've seen a quiet erosion of the cult over the years.

I think some of it goes back to what Neal Stephenson wrote about so long ago in his now painfully dated but still fascinating "In The Beginning Was the Command Line" -- basically, that when it was Apple vs Microsoft the open source people chose Apple, but since those days they've chosen Linux and moreover all the technologies and brands of true open source.

The closed box is less and less appealing to the Influencers, and Apple has become less and less relevant to technology discussion (for that matter, so has Microsoft up to a point, but with so many fingers in so many pies they're on the lips and minds of corporate America while Apple only comes up in the office while playing music on your phone).

Of course their product offering is continuing to evolve, and Google's entry into a fairly constricted space will have an impact too, but the reality is Apple has leading edge products and outdated marketing. They still do well in traditional spaces, but the digital and social media worlds seem astronomically removed from their comfort zone.