The Justice Departments filings demanding Apple unlock one of the San Bernadino Gunman’s iPhone is a challenge for CEO Tim Cook and the Apple team. Cook addressed customers in a letter describing Apple’s strong views of customer privacy, etc. Google, Yahoo! and others in Silicon Valley are standing with Apple on this important issue.
All of this got me thinking about how this could impact Apple’s marketing. From my view, it’s nothing but “goodness.” Think about it…
Apple is known for putting customer needs, preferences and privacy first… this stand supports this messaging. Keeping customers privacy at the center of the marketing equation does nothing but strengthen Apple’s messaging.
Apple vs. Government — with all the political discussion around how broken Washington is, this fight shows corporate America will take on the US Government. Again, strong messaging with little downside.
Losing the Battle — if Apple loses the legal war, it still looks good in that they “fought” for customer privacy. Again, strong customer privacy messaging… little to no downside.
The Government is painting Apple as the bad guys by not fulfilling their request. They’ve picked a moment and an opportunity to exploit the privacy issue.. Apple just happens to be the defendant in the trial. But with new product shipping shortly, Apple’s name stays in the press and as we know… any PR is good PR.
Scott
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