Have you seen the firepower at the ready in the latest T-Mobile commercial? No less than the likes of Whoopee Goldberg, Phil Jackson (L.A. Laker’s coach, for the athletically impaired), and Jesse James (big time car and motorcycle builder and husband of Sandra Bullock, for the automotively and socially impaired) are on hand to lend their (admittedly) silent endorsement of the newest product from T-Mobile, with the clearly placed Google logo. ( All that remains is bringing out Catherine Zeta Jones, man, that woman is fine!)
I think the marketing is brilliant.
In sharp contrast to the ‘me, me, me’ aura of the iPhone, we have a myTouch, something that does the very same types of things, yet is not in your face about it. It takes the ‘spoiled people need their iPhone’ stigma away, and makes it seem as though it is simply a tool to enable someone to lead a better life, and, if necessary, to help someone in need with theirs. Pretty slick placement.
The concentration on the customization is also clearly much different than other phones. Instead of having to believe that Apple knows, through customer research, that it has what you want, the myTouch allows much more personalization, on an ongoing basis, of that indispensible item the times have truly necessitated.
That Google logo is a lot more than a simple nod to a brand. It is something that has, among the young, an almost universal acceptance, with none of the bad feelings or perceptions of something that has a Windows flag, or an Apple logo. So, being a ‘good thing’, in the Martha Stewart vein, it lends a large hand to the viability of this effort.
T-Mobile, as a company, is a good corporate citizen, having the best customer service, and great treatment of its employees. The teaming with Google is natural in that way, as no one in the know will be complaining about shoddy business practices, or deceptions of the public.
The only thing that will block the universality of this phone’s popularity will be things found inherently wrong with the design, or the network support. As someone who worked for T-Mobile, through an indirect dealer, I can say that the network gets better all the time. Also, unlike the poorly disguised network discrepancies of AT&T, T-Mobile is fully upfront about its shortcomings, so its customers don’t enter into agreements, only to feel duped later.
We’ve all watched the dismal failure of the Blackberry Storm to unseat the iPhone as favorite of the yuppie set, which had nothing but the shortcomings of the phone as its root. If the myTouch is backed by a great set of plans, and has no inherent flaws, it could unseat the iPhone quickly as the phone to be seen with.
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I’m not normally a religious man, but if you’re up there, save me, Superman! |
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