There was a critical finding coming out of an examination of emotional shifts in consumers’ Ideals of the 79 categories in this year’s Customer Loyalty Engagement Index. The incontrovertible fact is that consumers know brands, know what the brands do, and know what they’re willing to pay for the brands – and, they want to be delighted. This finding rang a bell when it was announced that Apple – amid growing competition and wanting to accelerate sales of its smartphones – is working on a delightful new line of smaller iPhones, about half the size of the current iPhone 4.
Even though category competition has gotten bigger, Apple is still rated #1 in the smartphone category, with this year’s also-rans looking like this:
- Samsung
- Blackberry
- LG
- Nokia
- Motorola
- Palm
Rumor has it that the new design will also be half the price of the current model. This will allow carriers to subsidize most of the retail price, thus placing the iPhone smack in the middle of mass-market price range of rival cellphones, which would help migrate users from cell to smart. That category looks like this:
- Samsung
- LG
- Sony Ericsson
- Nokia
- Motorola
- Sanyo
- Panasonic
Size, we are reminded, is not everything. That title goes to the creation of consumer loyalty, which, when it plays out in the marketplace, only comes in one size: extra large.
