Apple continues to impress with their ability to tune in to new market opportunities. The iPhone is their latest hit product and one that already resonates in a big way with college-age buyers. They have been capturing share in that age group consistently since the product's introduction last year. So, why not leave well enough alone? Well, maybe it's because ...
Tuned In businesses focus on turning great products into great experiences for distinct buying groups! They know that when they do, they create sustainable competitive advantages that last years to decades.
A colleague of mine pointed me to a great example of this in Apple Universities program to distribute iPhone's to incoming students at Abilene Christian University in Texas. More than just offering a device though, the phone is fully integrated to the physical and social networks of the university. New students can now register for classes, establish Facebook groups, sign-up for events or even connect to local businesses to order supplies or maybe a pizza for delivery.
The use of the applications has even been captured by the students in a 20 minute YouTube video called Connected. The film captures the day in the life of a new student and how integral their new iPhone is to how they live and optimize their time.
Beyond the coolness factor that will no doubt resonate with college age audiences everywhere, I'm impressed with Apple's ability not to get so caught up in the momentum of their initial product launch to fail to notice that at the end of the day, their device is after all just a device unless it's fully integrated with the services that folks use on a daily basis. They hit it out of the park with iPod because they realized quite correctly that the real issue was the ease of downloading music and the ability of iTunes to make it simple was the breakthrough. Now they're focusing on the things that will make the iPhone sticky and delivering solutions for unique buyer personas. The college crowd is unique and further those attending ACU are unique. The solution offered here is powerful.
Creating a resonator is not just coming up with a hit product. You have to finish the job and work it completely into the lives of the individuals who will buy it. When you do, you create a breakthrough experience that allows word of mouth to take over and the number of sales that come from referrals increases exponentially. I learn more from these kinds of breakthroughs than I do from the original innovations themselves. Well run, Tuned In companies seem to have a knack for sticking with it and finding real problems to solve that make their little breakthrough a big one. Apple has certainly done that here.
