Practitioners of marketing can only marvel at the relatively unique status that Apple enjoys with its expansive presence in societies around the world. A walk around any major city will reveal the seeming ubiquity of Apple’s signature white earbuds. In classrooms, professors are faced with the dominant Apple logo on the computer cases of their attentive students. At Georgetown, many of our fashionista students accessorize with Apple products peeking out of their Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs and Longchamp bags.

In a U.K. court case between Apple and Samsung during the summer of 2012, a judge’s ruling over intellectual property and design stated that the Samsung products “do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool.” Many less successful competitors in the global communication marketplace suffer from their inability to catch up with Apple’s unique “coolness.”

Of course, Apple achieves this status through a comprehensive marketing approach that includes consumer-friendly products, innovative features and design, and superb branding. Apple walks the talk of cool and consumers know that.

Special thanks to Charles Skuba.

Source: Pan, Yi. The New York Times China. November 6th, 2012 http://cn.nytimes.com/article/business/2012/11/06/cc06foxconn/