My best friend & copywriting partner Tom Burns sent me this text message earlier today:
‘I was watching the keynote of when the iPad 2 came out and I was laughing at how Steve Jobs made the fact that it had the same battery life as the first iPad sound like it was an amazing new feature lol.
He started by listing all the new improvements and slimmer size and said “and so it’s amazing that we were able to do all of these things while keeping the iPad’s legendary 10 hour battery life!”’
I had to laugh.
You have to admit — when it comes to spinning ‘old’ features as something new … Apple has form, right?
Here’s my prediction:
The next iteration of MacBooks is going to remove the ‘Delete’ key.
It takes up space that we just don’t need in 2020, they’ll say.
After all, in the internet age, you need to get used to everything you say being permanent!
The reactions will be predictable:
Android fans will foam at the mouth.
Apple purists will moan that “Steve Jobs would NEVER have done this”.
CNET will praise the decision as “visionary”.
And Apple will reassure people not to worry — if you need to, you can still delete just as easily by pressing Command + Option + 2 + L!
(Or by buying Apple’s special ‘Delete Key’ adapter, sold separately for just $79.)
And we’ll all grumble, like we did when MagSafe or the 3.5 mm jack got taken away.
But then we’ll get used to it.
Yet it will all be part of a plan.
Because in 2022 — by the time we’ve all gotten used to life without a Delete key — Apple will announce a MacBook with a NEW feature:
The Magic Text Erase Key! ⌨️️
(“One touch and the characters on the screen just … disappear. Magically.”)
… hey, don’t laugh. You know I’m right.
So what’s my point, you ask?
Is old Daniel Throssell so out of tricks that he’s fishing for yet … another … joke out of his easy target, Apple?
Maybe.
(The old C.R.A.P. Department has let up on me lately so I’m feeling a little bold)
But the truth is, there are many, many marketing lessons buried in this one.
You hardly need me to point out the obvious ones.
(e.g. brand loyalty, hedonistic adaptation, and so on)
But some of the lessons here are so deep that it’d take another whole email to explain them …
… and to be brutally honest, they’re probably not the kind of thing I’d share in a free email anyway.
But as I’ve said before — all my marketing secrets are at my clients’ full disposal.
So if you’d like to avail yourself of my skills for your business …