I know it is a topic that is discussed and written about a lot, but I think there is a reason for that. Apple is really an extraordinary company, for so many reasons. What really amazes me about them is not the product or the technology they sell. MAC vs. PC, that debate is for a different time. I do not think there is anyone that can really claim that the original iPod, or the first 5 generation iPods for that matter (as opposed to the touch and the IPhone), were the best MP3 players on the market.  They weren’t! Yet they managed to sell 150 million iPods worldwide as of September 2007.

So how do they do it? It is very simple, their marketing abilities are unparalleled in the market. I recently read an article all about Apple’s “Marketing Machine” that left me absolutely stunned at how fundamentally different two huge corporations like Microsoft and Apple can be. Just one example that is mentioned in the article is the fact that when driving to one of Steve Jobs’ keynotes, you can notice all the billboards and buses have the current Apple products on them, and within a matter of seconds from the announcement of a new product, all that changes! The site is up and running with the new products, the store is already selling whatever it is Steve Jobs announced just minutes before, and the employees are even wearing new T-shirts. It is all just so smooth and near perfection.

Apple is the perfect example of superior marketing, merged with absolutely stunning and nearly flawless technology. They do however, need to do a little work on lowering their prices.

-Hillel