For anyone that can remember back to Steve Job’s introduction of the Mac back in 1984, Apple’s new iPhone commercial that aired during last night’s Oscars has a bit of nostalgia to it. The picture on the right was the image used to launch the Macintosh. It was the image from the cover of the first issue of MacWorld. “Hello” was a big part of the Apple’s marketing message for Mac back then, and was even used more recently to market consumer targeted Mac.
Seeing it used again in this iPhone ad was certainly interesting:
What is also interesting is that, to the best of my knowledge, Apple had not use this “Hello” theme for marketing any non-Mac product before. And while using “Hello” to market a phone may seem like an obvious choice, I think there is more behind it. I believe it is a subtle but deliberate attempt to link the iPhone and the Mac together; to position the iPhone as a powerful but accessible device that will blur lines and redefine expectations. Just like the Mac did.
And it could also end up changing Apple in some of the same ways the original Mac did back in 1984.
It already started with the company name…