Apple's latest innovation

Apple : Back at it again with non-sense

With their very emblematic reputation , Apple might think anything from them would sell. 

The question is, are they right ? 

Have you ever owned something by Apple ? Wether it is an Iphone, an iPad or a Macbook, we all know someone who is an unconditional supporter and would literally queue and even camp in front of an Apple store on the eve a new-product-release. 

Don’t get me wrong - I love me some apple goodies, but for some of us it has become a way of life. 

Ever since they launched the first iPhone in 2007, Apple have found themselves in a brand new spotlight : they were at the edge of becoming the most popular and admired company in the industry. That is precisely where the obsession for ever-improving devices started.  

As we all know, Apple products are not the cheapest on the market, but despite their prices, they remain the most popular ones in the whole world. 

They were the first to launch a touch-screen device (IPhone 1st generation) and so at the time, it retailed for $599 (later they dropped the price to $399). They sold more than six million units of the iPhone 1st generation. Naturally,  they kept coming up with new products which were more innovative, sleek and aesthetic, and, of course, more expensive. 

Today, their latest iPhone, the iPhone 7 retails at prices that vary between 649$ and 849$ for the standard iPhone 7 (depending on the memory capacity) and between 769$ and 969$ for the iPhone 7 plus. 

Following their never-ending successes, they recently announced a brand new item in their range, but this one is quite different from what they usually do. 

The latest addition to the family ? 

Apple.com

« Designed by Apple in California », the book.  What is it you may ask ? Well… a book. A book filled with photos of Apple products. A three-hundred-page historical adventure of the brand, which retails for the modest price of 299$ (for the bigger version, 199$ for the smaller one). 

From the 1998 iMac to the 2015 Apple pencil, the book covers every single product Apple has ever commercialized. Apple presented the book as being in memory of former CEO Steve Jobs. 

The creation process took them over eight years to finalize, they launched it this year, in 2016 but it had been a project since 2006. 

For the brand’s strongest supporters, this is the perfect opportunity to learn more about their favorite brand and, obviously, to add one piece to their collection. You can buy it online and in a couple of Apple stores in New-York. 

Obviously, it was predictable what happened next: people mocked the campaign. 

Remember all the fuss Apple got for their iPhone 7 not having a headphone jack or any accessories included in the package ? Well, it was a big deal for most of the consumers, who did not hesitate to publicly mock the brand on the internet, especially on twitter, the most visible social media there is.  They brought up the fact that Apple was selling less and less, for more. 

This time, again, they did not hesitate to make (funny) statements about the product. 

"For the price of an iPad, Apple is selling us a book. Progress is beautiful."

  Besides twitter users, others decided it was too much to deal with this time. 

Among those, we found The late show with Stephen Colbert, who made a commercial parody for the book. You can tell it was clearly inspired by real Apple commercials. 

They even brought up the headphone jack thing again, just to insist on how ridiculous it sounded to them (and, let’s face it, to most people). 

Apple, in their press release, described the book as being « printed on specially milled, custom-dyed paper with gilded matte silver edges, using eight color separations and low-ghost ink ». 

Yeah… A book. As per usual, much ado about nothing.  

Sarah Amahadar.