Apple has phenomenal brand loyalty. If Sony or Motorola had come up with something as chronically unfashionable looking as AirPods, they’d have beem laughed out of the press conference, and who else would have the pure gumption to charge NZ$35 for a piece cleaning cloth with an Apple logo?
For a large section of the population, “smartphone” means “iPhone” in the same way that “Hoover” was synonymous with “vacuum cleaner” in the 80s. Google clearly has its work cut out to attract those customers to cross the divide and try Android, but new research from CIRP shows exactly how brand loyal these customers are.
Respondents were asked a simple question: if your iPhone broke or was stolen, how quickly would you replace it? 79% said they’d do so immediately or within a day or two. Add in those saying they’d do it within a month, and it jumps to 98%.
How many said “never”? One per cent. A rounding error. Curiously that seems to be higher amongst younger users, but then Apple products aren’t cheap and younger generations don’t tend to have creature comforts that older generations take for granted, like savings and hope.
This brand loyalty was echoed by Warren Buffet — the world’s fifth richest man. Forty-three per cent of Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings are in Apple, and he told CNBC why earlier today.
“If you’re an Apple user and somebody offers you $10,000, but the only proviso is they’ll take away your iPhone and you’ll never be able to buy another, you’re not going to take it.”
(Before you make up your mind, remember he’s talking about US dollars — so around NZ$16,000. And that he’s not actually making you the offer, of course.)
“If they tell you if you buy another Ford car, they’ll give you $10,000 not to do that, you’ll take the $10,000 and you’ll buy a Chevy instead.” Take that, Ford!
This is all great news for Apple, and probably for VR fans worrying about the industry’s future with Apple on the verge of revealing it’s first mixed-reality headset. After all, if anybody can make something as dorky-looking as virtual reality headsets fashionable, it’s Apple…
