THINK-TANK | Unique Marketing Ideas to Set You Apart(sm) Through Marketing Innovation, Unique Design, Branding, Keynote Presentations, Web Design, BrainFood & More!» THINK-TANK

Will the Apple iPad be an iFlop?

thinktankblog — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:52:14 +0000

After months of speculation about the introduction of Apple’s “tablet,” the iPad was finally introduced last week with MUCH fanfare! While there has been much discussion among tech writers and analysts about what it “doesn’t” include, I think that they may have forgotten the history of the iPhone. Shortly after the iPhone launch less than 2 years ago, there was much grumbling about the limitations of the iPhone…most importantly, it’s inability to run third-party apps.

After subsequent variations and “tweaks,” Apple continued to innovate and now the App Store is one of the MOST differentiating components of the iPhone’s success.

So, what will this mean for the iPad?

I believe that the successful iPhone apps developers will REALLY embrace this new BIG-SCREEN tool and that textbook publishing, regular book reading, medical integration, newspaper publishing, rich media integration and applications that we haven’t yet imagined will cause the iPad to be another re-defining tool in the next few years.

And don’t forget the millions of grandparents out there who are just frightened away by the “traditional” computer but who would love to stay connected with distant grandkids and adult kids and who would find the iPad non-threatening, easy and just plain fun!

Since the iPad hasn’t even been released yet, don’t count it out now. One final “arrow” that Apple has in its quiver is an international presence in over 250 Apple stores that currently have the highest per-square-foot profit of any retail outlet on the planet. Who knows what will happen when they are all able to expose this new concept IN PERSON to millions of Apple shoppers?

Hide and watch!

MY STORY-APPLE CONTINUES TO DAZZLE WITH AWESOME CUSTOMER SERVICE

thinktankblog — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:55:31 +0000

I recently bought a MacBook Air to do presentations as VP-Affiliate Mktg Strategies for HomeStore Rewards. (See another presentation in FEATURED VIDEO at the bottom of the page featuring Apple’s marketing & design expertise.)

These presentations use Apple’s Keynote presentation software (makes PowerPoint presentations look lame by comparison). In any event, within a week or so of getting the Air, I noticed that it wasn’t charging correctly. So, I called and the Apple rep advised me to take it to my local authorized Apple service center. So I did. Here’s where it gets interesting.

They replaced the MagSafe power connector and off I went. Well, that only worked for a couple of days before the same problem occurred. Back in. They then replaced the logic board. Same scenario. Worked for a few days then not charging. So, I decided to call Apple again.

After a very circuitous analysis involving several levels of tech support and customer support, they decided that the best thing to do to get me back up and running quickly was to simply replace it. While I had purchased a refurbished Air with the SSD drive (Solid-State-Drive), those were no longer available in the configuration that I had. The only replacement available was the top-of-the-line Air.

So, they initiated a cross-ship where they sent a replacement charged to my credit card BUT when they get the defective Air back, they credit me back the entire amount. They even set me up with a PRE-PAID FedEx label. Within 3 days, I had the new Air in my possession which gave me time to get ready for another presentation that was only days away.

Now, THAT is the reason that Apple continues to be rated so highly in ANY industry for customer service and just one of MANY reasons why they continue to have such loyal customers…for life!

If you have been considering a move to a Mac, don’t wait! I’m not an Apple employee. Just raving fan!

THINK-TANK INTRODUCES EXCLUSIVE vBROCHURE(TM)-videoBROCHURE

thinktankblog — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:08:15 +0000

We work with a number of real estate brokers who need to set themselves apart. Perhaps your business requires the same. So, we have utilized some recently-released technology that let’s us merge HD-LOOKING VIDEO into a small Adobe Acrobat .pdf file (for example, the sample that you’ll download below is only 368KB in size…very easy to e-mail to someone).

Previously, this would have been impossible due to the sheer size of the .pdf with HD video included. To see a sample for yourself (ours is for our LuxeHomesPro concept) and think about how you might use it in your business, you’ll need the FREE Adobe Acrobat 9 Reader. You can get it HERE. Then RIGHT-CLICK on the file below named LuxeHomesPro vBrochure.pdf and save it to your desktop. Double-click it to open and watch the HD Video that’s integrated into the sample. If you are interested in us developing something like this for your business, let us know.