Research suggests that iPhones are outselling all other phones and that rich people love them (and so should you). Yeah, I'm suspicious too.
One of the biggest accomplishments a marketer can achieve is convincing the buyer of a product that the decision was wise. Apple does this better than anyone and is at it again.
I came across this news in a Digital Trends article that seemed to be written by a PR company because it lacks balance, citing two articles that are in the wild. The first is an AllThingsD report that asserts that the iPhone is outselling all over phones combined. Really?
This flies in the face of most of the real research I've read that claims the Android OS is the top seller. While reports hint at the fact that they are referring to individual phone models rather than base phone OS, they maintain that the iPhone is dominating everything. This news from AllThingsD, however, is based on analysis from Canaccord Genuity, an investment bank and mergers and acquisitions shop—not a market research company. The firm advises people on buying and selling stock.
This is all beginning to seem a bit staged about now. But it gets better.
The second article referenced by Digital Trends comes from Reuters. The article reveals that rich people (implying successful and smart people) love the iPhone. It cites data from The Luxury Institute and its apparent sales and marketing genius CEO Milton Pedraza..
The Institute is a consultancy that helps luxury brands maximize profits. The About page reads:
The Institute conducts extensive and actionable research with wealthy consumers about their behaviors and attitudes on customer experience best practices. In addition, we work closely with top-tier luxury brands to successfully transform their organizational cultures into more profitable customer-centric enterprises. Our Luxury CRM Culture consulting process leverages our fact-based research and enables luxury brands to dramatically Outbehave [sic] as well as Outperform their competition.
At the end of the day the company states: We measure our success by our clients' results.
So, whatever these guys report, it is for the benefit of the client, not for the benefit of the public or in the interest of truth.
In fact, Reuters did counter this nonsense with data from Nielsen, an actual research firm:
Forty-five percent of wealthy smartphone users own an iPhone, followed 35 percent with an Android device and a quarter who had a Blackberry. But Nielsen found that overall Android had 46 percent of market share, followed by the iPhone with 30 percent and Blackberry with 15 percent.
But so what? Both the "outselling" and "rich" notions are debunked but this was ignored by the Apple-loving bloggers and AllThingsD folks.
So now we all have to deal with a subtext message that suggests smart and successful rich people, who know a lot more than you do, all use iPhones and this may be part of the reason they are successful. "Buy an iPhone today!"
Now, you cannot fault Apple for this sort of scripted message—and make no mistake, Apple is at the root of it. You also have to wonder what the competition intends to do about it. Actually, you have to wonder if Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and Nokia are even aware that this stunt is being pulled right in front of them. I'm guessing they are as clueless as they actually seem.
This works so well because of the levels of propaganda and the one-two punch of information. "Apple is outselling everyone" (it's not) combined with "rich people prefer Apple" (they don't, as far as I can tell).
Let's discuss the rich people assertion. I personally know a few billionaires and, in my view, they tend to have the newest, coolest phones at any given time. There is no theme. And the ones that still work for a living still use BlackBerrys for the keyboard. The idle rich probably use iPhones, along with 90 percent of the tech community, because they are very subject to the hype. From what I can tell, the actual smart money use Android, but I'd apparently have to come out with some dubious report to prove it.
This one lone column is not going to quiet the drivel and I can assure you that everyone will now think that all rich people use iPhones. It's prestigious. It's smart. It's a done-deal.
Hats off to the Apple marketing folks for this coup. I salute you.
You can Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter @therealdvorak.
More John C. Dvorak:
• Apple Hits a Homer with Dubious Research
• FAIL: Girls Around Me
• E-mail Etiquette Part II: CCing and BCCing
• E-mail Etiquette Part I: The End-of-Thread Dilemma
• United States Losing the "War on Hackers"
• more
Go off-topic with John C. Dvorak.
