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Michael Nolan Dr. Erin Dietel-McLaughlin WR 13300 - 02 7 October 2011 Behind the Screens: How Apples Touch Products Touch You There is no protection from corporate Americas arsenal of advertisements; they can attack you from every angle. With the proliferation of the Internet, advertisements are evolving to appeal to their audiences in every way they can. Advertisements allow companies to get their names out. When someone says, tablet, you think of the iPad. When someone says, mp3player, you think of the iPod. As you can see, Apple has done an astounding job of getting their name into the public echoes, and their website is designed to keep pulling people in. Companies emphasize the major uses of their products and put those features in the spotlight, but ignoring the secondary features doesnt allow advancement of the product. Apples advertising techniques are no exception. While Apples iPad 2 and 4th generation iPod Touch are very similar devices, the strategies of advertising used by Apple on their website to sell these products are quite different. The differences between these advertising strategies display how Apple can exploit the varying identities of their prospective consumers and attach those identities to their products, although this fuels groupthink and discourages the evolution of each product. Apple has been leading the mp3-player market ever since it debuted the first iPod in 2001 (Apple - Products - iPod History), and the 4th generation iPod Touch is a member of one of the recent families of iPods released in September of 2010. The iPod Touch is one of the four current models of the iPod, the other three being the Shuffle, the Nano, and the Classic. This was the

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first iPod model with a touch screen, which not only provides an easier, more natural control of the devices operating system, but also allows for a new generation of games and applications that no other big-name company had previously provided. Since its introduction, the Touch has been majorly successful as a gaming device while also serving the purposes of an mp3-player and a digital personal assistant. The current model has two cameras facing either direction, video-recording capabilities, memory capacities of 8, 32, or 64 GB, a Retina display, music and video-viewing capabilities, and countless other features (Apple - iPod touch - features). While the possible consumer audience for the iPod Touch includes everyone of all ages, Apples intended consumer audience would be preteens and teenagers, and these intentions are apparent in the way Apple uses color, promotes select features, and words its website. While the iPod Touch is physically monochromatic, coming in only black or white, Apple appeals to the younger crowds with a superfluous use of color to give the iPod a fun and personalized feel. Half of the fun of video games are the graphics and colors, and that is exactly what Apple is promoting with this new Touch. Apple is promoting the Touchs gorgeous Retina display by depicting the appealing colors and graphics of video games. The colors also allude to personalization, and Apple knows this because the other models of the iPod are available in several colors. On the first page for the iPod Touchs section of the Apple website is a background of fingerprints in an assortment of colors (Apple - iPod touch). While the fingerprints underscore the promotion of the iPods touch technology, they also give a sense of individualization, and the colors augment that sense. The colors appeal to a majority of the Touchs audience: the visualizers, as John Suler puts it in his article, Identity Management in Cyberspace. Suler describes these visualizers as people who may enjoy the more symbolic,

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imagistic, and holistic reasoning that is expressed via the creation of avatars and web graphics. Visualizers appreciate the creativity and art that is used in advertisements, such as this advertisement for the Touch, over mere words. The younger crowd that Apple appeals to represents modernity, for this crowd is currently the youngest generation and the harbingers of the future. In Faux Friendship, an article by William Deresiewicz, modernity is described. Deresiewicz writes, Modernity believes in individualism Modernity believes in choice Modernity believes in self-expression (Deresiewicz 50). Modernity, according the Deresiewicz, is all about the self and the selfs decisions. This generation, the bringers of modernity, desire personalized and individual products, following what Deresiewicz states. The colors purposefully used by Apple to advertise the Touch appeal to this desire, and these children of modernity succumb. While the 4th generation of the iPod Touch brought dozens of new features, the specific features that Apple chooses to propagandize on the Touchs homepage appeal specifically to this younger generation. Being composed of children, this younger generation is highly concerned with video games. Games supply reward, a creative outlet, and an attractive and enjoyable way to pass time, which are all appealing to this self-indulgent modernity generation. On the first iPod Touch webpage you can navigate to, five different features of the Touch are shouted at you. Three of these features, the Retina display, the A4 core chip, and the Game Center (Apple - iPod touch), were, according to the advertisement, developed for gaming. The Retina display is a new technology that dramatically increases the resolution of the Touchs screen by four times (Apple - iPod touch - Retina display). Apple directly relates this to gaming, promoting, games are even more immersive on the highest-resolution iPod screen ever made (Apple - iPod

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touch). The A4 core chip is a part of the devices processor, and Apple relates this directly to gaming as well by reminding on the first page you see, The A4 chip helps give you even more amazing gaming. Finally, the Game Center is a native, Apple-developed application on the Touch that allows iOS device owners to battle each other in various games over the Internet or a local wireless connection. Apple is trying to make it a point that this iPod was designed for gaming, for over 50% of the features advertised on the main iPod Touch webpage Apple relates to gaming (Apple - iPod touch). These advertisements are self-fulfilling in a negative way, for, at this rate, the iPod Touch will only further develop to be used as a gaming device because that is what it is advertised as and purchased for. The other features may get lost in the dust, similar to how the iPod Nano lost its video capabilities to its portability, or how the MacBook Air lost its disk drive to portability as well. It seems Apple has previously made decisions about this type of opportunity cost, but the emphasis of these features is part of what differentiates this device from the iPad 2 in terms of advertising. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, words still carry some weight, and Apple uses a certain language to appeal to an obviously specific consumer audience with its iPod Touch advertisements. Scholars have deemed text-speak as the bane of our social evolution. In his article, Deresiewicz comments on the downhill path the conversational language of our species is headed, stating, The 10-page missive has gone the way of the buggy whip, soon to be followed, it seems, by the three-hour conversation (58). Deresiewicz believes that conversation is devolving, and soon the detail and girth of language will vanish like the buggy whip. Apple, on the other hand, takes advantage of this new, brief vernacular of the modern generation. When describing the video-recording technology of the iPod Touch, the advertisement reads, From

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HD to OMG (Apple - iPod touch). The same webpage also states that this generation of iPod Touch is One giant leap for funkind due to its gaming features. This acronym and invented word would both appear in the speech or text of a member of the modern generation, so Apple is once again appealing directly to this crowd. This advertising technique also promotes groupthink, for Apple would be cutting out a chunk of prospective consumers if those consumers, specifically older generations, cannot understand the advertisement. The result is that only this modern generation will gravitate towards the iPod Touch, while other generations, such as the all-business generation of 20-somethings, gravitate to other products, such as the iPad 2. In April of 2010, Apple nearly invented a new family of personal computers, the tablet computer, with the release of the iPad (Kawamoto). While the tablet computer had been a public technology for a few years beforehand, Apple created a landmark and set the standard for other companies, such as HP, Amazon, and Motorola, in their tablet production. The iPad 2, which will be the iPad discussed in the rest of this essay, was unveiled in March of 2011. It is about 7.5 inches wide, 10 inches long, and 0.34 inches thick. It runs the same operating system as the iPod Touch and iPhone: iOS 4. It sports both a front- and back-facing camera, a multi-touch touch screen, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and all other physical features included in the 4th generation of the iPod Touch besides the Retina display and the A4 core chip (Apple - iPad 2 Technical specifications). This new model of the iPad comes with Smart Covers, which can prop the device up to resemble a desktop computers elevated keyboard. These specifications appeal to businessmen and -women looking for a portable replacement for their desktop computer. While the iPad 2 may be marketed to all audiences, Apple implements those familiar methods of the Touchs advertising in order to direct the appeal to the business generation.

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Monochromatic is efficient, and efficiency is the holy grail to the business generation. Very unlike the Touchs homepage, the iPads main webpage has puddles of color strewn across monochromatic advertisements. The iPad is available in two colors, white and black, and one could personalize his iPad with Smart Covers of ten different colors. However, in the advertisement, the text is in black, the price is in gray, the background is white, and there is a surprising lack of color when compared to the iPod Touchs page (Apple - iPad 2). In business, efficiency is an ideal; hard-workers trim the unnecessary fat that impedes their work. Color is the unnecessary fat in business; it is distracting. As I will make evident later, the iPads advertisement is all about brevity. This lack of color, however, could lead to the demise of this products popularity, for grayscale is dull to the younger generation. This is another opportunity cost that Apple is boldly spending. While there was a prevalence of gaming features promoted on the Touchs main page, brevity and efficiency is the theme of the features listed on the iPads homepage. This time, of the five major features presented on the homepage, four have to do with either speed or efficiency. This new model is Thinner, lighter, and better (Apple - iPad 2). Both the size and the weight of the device add to its portability, and better portability means better efficiency. Sherry Turkle agrees with the idea that the business generation is looking for portability of computing devices in her article, Always-On/Always-On-You: The Tethered Self. She writes, Adults use tethering technology during what most of us think as down time (140). The Adults Turkle is commenting on are members of the business class, and although she frowns upon these men and womens tendency to overwork themselves by constantly being tethered to mobile technology, she nonetheless agrees that it is a tendency. To make the iPad 2 faster, Apple

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included a dual-core A5 chip of the same technology as the Touchs A4 chip. While Apple emphasized the A4 chip was meant to be used for speedy gaming, they are emphasizing that this A5 chip be used for speedy work and processing (Apple - iPad 2 - Features). Its Smart Cover allows the iPad to more closely resemble a desktop computer so that similar work may be done on the iPad as on the computer. The last promoted feature, the long battery life, also appeals to the efficiency of the device, allowing more work to be done in this longer period of time. There are other, ignored features of the iPad that could better appeal to other generations. The music and gaming capabilities of the iPad, which are nearly equivalent to the Touchs, would appeal to the younger generation, but these features are almost completely ignored. Again, the iPad is falling into the self-fulfilling prophecy that it is meant as a business device. If only businessmen and -women are attracted to it, it will develop to suit only the business-related needs of these consumers. The text of the advertisement could almost be pulled directly from a scholarly publication in a scientific journal; the language used is brief, statistical, and to-the-point. This, again, mimics the identity of the business generation in order to appeal to them. The first text one sees when he navigates to the iPads homepage is a list of words that summarize the entire device. The page reads, Thinner. Lighter. Faster. FaceTime. Smart Covers. 10-hour battery. This list of adjectives is as brief and descriptive as an advertisement could get, for it describes nearly all of the newest features of the iPad 2. The advertisement also uses statistics and other numbers, a persuasive aspect that was absent in the Touchs advertisement. The iPad 2 is described on the homepage as being 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter. Numbers are an efficient form of evidence, giving the reader a descriptive and quantitative understanding of the material

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presented. Members of the business generation also appreciate control, agrees Turkle. She makes the point, Always-on/always-on-you communications devices are seductive for many reasons, among them, they give you the sense that one can do more, be in more places, control more aspects of life (139). Turkle states that the users of these devices wish to extend their grasp over every aspect of their life that they can; they want more. Apple argues that the iPad 2 can provide you with more. When describing the dual-core A5 processor chip, Apple explains, Two powerful cores and faster graphics mean better surfing, better watching, better gaming, better everything (Apple - iPad 2 - Features). More and more in a smaller package is the definition of efficiency, and while the modernity generation may appreciate efficiency, they do not worship it like this business generation. Apple advertises the iPad 2 as a deity to the business generation, but the brief, colorless language used does not entice or connect to other generations, including the modernity generation. One might argue that these two devices, despite the different opportunity costs in their advertisements, are still the same in many aspects. Some seasoned Apple consumers may object to the advertised differences between the iPod Touch and the iPad 2, suggesting that they are essentially the same device. The major similarity between the two devices is that they both run the same operating system, iOS 4. This operating system defines the layout of the devices system, the general structure of the applications, and other aspects of the software. The Touch and iPad are also technically similar. They each have one front-facing and one back-facing camera, they both have the same memory capacities, and they both majorly rely on WiFi. While the core chips were different, they had the same job and were both of the highest technology available to Apple relative to their size at the time. Finally, all of the applications that are available for the iPod Touch are also available for

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the iPad 2. With the same operating system, the same technical features, and the same applications, there truly is no obvious difference between the two devices. Yes, the iPod Touch and the iPad 2 are the same device in terms of software and hardware, and now that the 5th generation iPod Touch comes in white and has the dual-core A5 chip, it is hard to see any difference between the devices. This essay, however, discusses how Apple uses advertising strategies to construct a different identity for each device. Apple uses color and a lack of color to either express joviality or efficient pragmatism. Although each device has the same gaming and productivity features, one wouldnt get that sense from each page because only one feature is vociferously promoted on each webpage. The brief, statistical advertisement for the iPad gives off a greater aptitude of business and productivity than the briefer text-speak of the Touchs ad. The iPad, with moderate portability and incredible productivity, belongs in a briefcase, while the iPod Touch, with extreme portability and an emphasis on enjoyable play, belongs in a pocket. Apple has taken the identity of a certain consumer group and attached it to one of the devices, which is how Apple communicates a difference between the two, nearly equivalent products. Identity does not have to belong to a person; anything can have an identity. Smart inventors can sculpt a product with an identity that meshes with the that of an intended consumer group, but smart advertisers can sculpt an advertisement without having to alter the product itself and have the same effect. The iPod Touch and the iPad 2 are no different, and now that the 5th generation iPod Touch has an A5 dual-core chip, Im beginning to see the line between them blurred myself. This essay, however, was sculpted to emphasize how these similar devices can be portrayed in vastly different ways to appeal to a specific audience. However, these advertising

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techniques are huge opportunity costs. It becomes a cycle: inventors develop products, advertisers choose features to emphasize to a specific audience, that audience buys it, that audience asks for advancement of those emphasized features, inventors focus on those features, and then those features take the spotlight in the next generation of the product. The features go through a trial of survival-of-the-fittest. Christopher Mims, a writer for MITs scientific magazine Technology Review, wrote an article, titled, Apple's Real Problem? Competition from Itself. He describes how Apples advertisements for the iPhone are missing the target, and how every new feature wont last in the limelight: There will always be phones with larger displays, better cameras, and faster or more affordable data plans than the iPhone. But so far, developers have yet to figure out how to use that power to give consumers an experience that is substantially different from a middle-of-the-road iPhone. There are no true advancements, no true improvements, and no true evolutions. Apple has gotten itself into a cyclic rut.

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Works Cited Apple - iPad 2. Apple.com. Apple. n.d. Web. 1 October 2011. Apple - iPad 2. Apple.com. Apple. 14 July 2011. Internet Archive. 6 October 2011. <http:// web.archive.org/web/20110719165826/http://www.apple.com/ipad/> Apple - iPod Touch. Apple.com. Apple. n.d. Web. 6 October 2011. Apple - iPod Touch. Apple.com. Apple. 14 July 2011. Internet Archive. 6 October 2011. <http:// web.archive.org/web/20110719165826/http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/> Deresiewicz, William. Faux Friendship. (E)dentity. Ed. Stephanie Vie. South Lake, TX: Fountainhead Press, 2011. 135-143. Print. Kawamoto, Dawn. From iPod to iPad: A Timeline of Apple's iDynasty. DailyFinance. Aol. 2 April 2010. Web. 1 October 2011. Mims, Christopher. Apple's Real Problem? Competition from Itself. Technology Review. MIT, 4 October 2011. Web. 5 October 2011. Suler, John R. Identity Management in Cyberspace. Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 4 (2002): 455-460. Web. 1 October 2011. Turkle, Sherry. Always-On/Always-On-You. (E)dentity. Ed. Stephanie Vie. South Lake, TX: Fountainhead Press, 2011. 135-143. Print.

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