In a recent interview for Bloomberg, the old Apple co-founder and all-round loveable guy, Steve “The Woz” Wozniak said the technology giant was in danger of losing its ‘cool factor’ to other tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and even Blackberry.
“We used to have these ads, I’m a Mac and I’m a PC, and the Mac was always the cool guy,” he said. “And ouch, it’s painful, because we kind of are losing that.”
However, The Woz seemed quite excited about the prospect of a possible iWatch and had this to say about it.
“Apple is really good at setting a standard with a new device. Apple still has its halo in that regard…and a critical mass of loyal users that will instantly buy.”
Is Apple losing its ‘cool factor’ though? If you owned an Apple product 4 years ago you were the coolest person in the world – the iPod, iPhone, iPad and Mac were all symbols of your social standing.
I remember when I would walk down the street and I would simply just stare at someone with an iPhone in complete envy and the only way I could tell myself that I was as good as that person was to remind myself that my Nokia N95 had a 5MP camera and their iPhone had a 2. If I see someone with an iPhone now I either assume it is a work phone, has a specific feature they need or that they aren’t too much into technology. The fact that my 15 year old brother just bought a Nokia Lumia over an iPhone also says something.
I do think that Apple is losing its cool factor, its fashion statement which made it so popular since the original iPod. Like The Woz said, it still has its loyal supporters who will instantly buy any new Apple product. But could those supporters slowly drop off for products that get deemed ‘cooler’?. To maintain it’s cool factor Apple needs the innovation and ground breaking product like the iPod and iPad were – they need something people lust over, something people envy others for having. Could an iWatch be it?
Here’s a clip from iJobs the movie with The Woz and Steve Jobs in action in their early days.
