Two brand strategies: Android vs. iPhone
RoughlyDrafted Magazine has an interesting overview of some major differences between Google’s brand strategy for Android and Apple’s brand strategy for the iPhone. These strategies play out in the world of customers, of course, but also in the world of carriers, who are the primary gatekeepers in the mobile arena.
Android as the “anti-brand” to the iPhone
In broad brushstrokes the RoughlyDrafted piece reveals two contrasting brand strategies. When you read about Google’s strategy for Android, be prepared for a brand that happily cedes its identity to carriers. It’s as if Android is the “anti-brand” to the iPhone, providing brand power to carriers, conceivably at Apple’s expense. It would seem that Android’s business model requires it.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:17 am
So in the formula “brand = company potential X customer potential”, is the Android customer the phone manufacturer or the phone user? I think the author of the linked analysis might have missed who the customer of Android really is (at least from the perspective of Google).
November 14th, 2009 at 11:05 am
You make a very good point. The RoughlyDrafted perspective is one of “Android vs. iPhone,” as if it’s a 1:1 battle-of-the-brands, where both compete for the end user. It doesn’t grasp that Google is really changing the brand game with Android, with a very different business model compared to Apple’s. In a strong sense, “Android” isn’t a brand at all. Google doesn’t treat it as such. Handset makers can tweak it and re-brand it, and so can carriers. The Verizon Droid is a Verizon brand with the handset made by Moto and the (Android) OS from Google. The brand experience will be what Verizon wants it to be.