Handtops, UMPC - Apple hysteria and the Magpie factor.

Without a doubt, Apple produces some great products, even some world beating ones.

The success of these products, however, is not just down to their industrial design and functionality. Like Ferrari cars and Omega watches, Apple products seem to have a halo of “special” about them. Unlike Ferrari cars and Omega watches, they compete price for price in the market with similar devices from multiple vendors.

What makes them so special?

Leaving aside the fact that, for the most part, they are well designed, reasonably well finished, slightly rebel and mostly well thought out, Apple products success owes a great amount to the charisma of Steve, the marketing team at Apple, and public hysteria.

Nobody can take away from the black t-shirted charisma of Apples long time spokesperson. Steve has done more to promote the cause of his company and sell its products than any other individual I can remember in the field of computers. He may indeed be Apples biggest single asset.

The marketing team at Apple, or whoever they employ to get the job done, have time and again identified the strengths of the individual product, the requirements of the market, and the weaknesses of the “enemy”. They do such a good job that I am sure that snow in Siberia is not beyond their reach.

But all of that taken into consideration still does not fully explain the success that this relatively small company has had. Sure, they have enjoyed being the visible alternative to Microsoft, and the trendy underdog, but the single most important factor in their success over the last couple of years can probably be placed at the door of the “Magpie factor”.

It is axiomatic that a lot of people who would like to own a Ferrari, just will never be able to afford one. Apple manages to project a Ferrari (or Porsche, Lamborghini, Aston Martin - take your pick) aura about their products. They seem to be ultra desirable and stratospheric, but they are surprisingly affordable.

Magpies are (in)famous for stealing all that glitters. They often make off with objects that are of no value to them at all, just because they are all shiny and appealing. Modern society is hysterically Magpie-ish when it comes to consumer goods. The excessive consumption and instant gratification needs of a large portion of the buying public in the western world creates the ideal environment for the sales and advertising teams to work in. Make is shine (not necessarily literally), and people will do just about anything to get hold of it.

And which company produces more built in shine than Apple?

The hysterical reaction to the Apple ?Phone is just the latest example of the often pop star status that this company’s products are treated with.

The new phone is stylish, (but hardly ground breaking or unique), well thought out, (but just a flawed as every other current offering) and trendy (but no more so than a number of others), and it has already got people looking to sell off their Mothers into slavery to get one. There are better phones, better designs, and more unique products out there. It’s just that they are not Apple.

I wish Apple well with their new endeavor. The cell phone market is a much tougher one to crack than the PC computer or portable music markets. They may have made a serious miscalculation by announcing the phone well before it is due to ship. LG, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia and the rest are not going to take this lying down, and they have years of experience producing winning phones in a short time frame.

Apple is iconic (that is probably what the “i” really stands for), and good for the market, and I doubt for all the sane and balanced investigation of their products that we will see the end of the “Magpie factor” any time soon.