The Golden Apples
With my longtime, deep-seated Apple-directed apathy, I’m probably not the best to comment on the latest incarnation of iPods. But something someone said, about Apple’s recent ‘recycling’ of designs reminded me of another American conglomerate that’s essentially taken one thing and gone all the way with it—McDonald’s.
Hasn’t anyone realised that McDonald’s dessert menu, apart from the apple pie, is really just one ice-cream with several toppings? They tried to have (gasp) two ice-cream flavours at one time, when they incorporated a chocolate flavour (and even then, had to maximise that by serving a twirl of both stock vanilla and chocolate flavours, shamefacedly calling it a third flavour called ‘twist’) but soon after demolished that attempt in favour of a comfortable return to the land of soft serve vanilla.
McDonald’s ice-cream renditions:
- The Cone: All hail the nothingness of McD’s ice-cream on a lao hong cone made of cardboard.
- The sundaes: Soft serve with strawberry, chocolate and caramel toppings.
- The milkshakes: Soft serve with mysterious artificial thickener, leaving it frozen indefinitely.
- The McFlurry: Possibly the most creative rendition, this is soft serve whipped (read: stirred fast with a plastic spoon) with a variety of toppings, like Oreo bits, nuts and M&Ms.
Why spend extra money on ickety chocolate ice-cream when you know that if you force one flavour down everyone’s throat, no one’s going to question it?
So, like McDonald’s, Apple’s move may turn out to be a rather ingenious one. Why fix something that ain’t broke, right? With millions and billions of Apple devotees worldwide just waiting to injest and poop out (and repeat) their products, not only does it get to please the easily pleased, it gets to follow a tried and tested, Fortune 500 bluechip business model and most of all claim supreme genius and loyalty to its fanbase by holding onto its ‘house style’ with a proud thump on its big, red chest.
I don’t know about you, but I’m really craving McDonald’s ice-cream right now. I wonder which one I’ll choose…they’ve got so much variety.
my mother calls the McFlurry the McFurry. It’s been like 6 years now. And it’s still a McFURRY
While I don’t share your level of apathy for Apple, especially considering my latest acquisition, comments on that latest iPods are actually quite easy to sum up.
new nano = fat
classic = yay clickwheel
touch = meh
Like you said, Apple is in the habit of doing too much of nothing, too fast. Every year there is one or two “big” announcements of product changes that end up being just minor updates that didn’t really deserve all the hoo-ah in the first place. And when they really do change something major, it’s usually just a short time after a similar product came out thus shortchanging the early adopters.
More time spent on developing real evolution to their product lines, which also keep current stuff in the spotlight so that customers appreciate the support given to them, would be a better idea.
i never really was into the mcflurry. and did you know, during st. patrick’s, they have a minty green ice cream called the shamrock shake or something. so maybe that’s the exception.
i love how jun and i COMPLETELY ignore what the post is really about, the Apple. and how we’er only talking about the ice cream:D
any enterprise dealing with mass-market products (McDs has done so for longer than Apple, who only hit critical mass with the iPod a few years back) know that supply-chain management is crucial. u announce a product, plan an ad campaign and u need to make sure that product is ON SHELVES when the campaign hits. if u have too many products and they don’t sell, then u have back-inventory and that’s one kind of problem (not too bad as long as products are not quickly perishable). but when u run out and things are back-ordered, then u have probs, cuz when ppl show up to buy the new nano or Barbie or whatever and it’s NOT THERE, they often are so annoyed they don’t return. with the current shelf-life of consumer electronic gadgets, supply-chains are more important than ever.
Apple never had to worry that much because they didn’t do mass-volumes of gadgets until the pod. but when they rolled out the first nano, they got caught short on 4GB flash-memory because, everyone wanted the 4GB not the 2GB as the price-point differential was only US$50. the 2GBs weren’t selling, and there was a 4-6 week for the 4GB. stuff like this annoys consumers.
thus, the best way to assure business continuity along a supply-chain is to standardize products as much as possible. thus, all ice-cream at McDs is vanilla and all iPods have a certain similarity in terms of design and capacity.
the reason i buy Apple products is because of good design, reliability and functionality. included in the latter is the panoply of viruses for Windows operating systems.
as for McDs, those shakes are damn mysterious. Jun, u can’t get a Shamrock Shake here in Hong Kong. people here think i’m making it up…
s
Jody>> Hahaha, tell me about it. But really, my post was about ice-cream, anyway…
Jun>> I want to try that Shamrock milkshake. I love mint flavour! Also, they recently had a melon milkshake to commemorate Shrek 3. It was really good, but you’d hate it… :D
EW WTF MELON MILKSHAKE?
why would they ever have that!
remember when we were trying to explain what a cantaloupe is to that Brazilian girl? GOD what is her name? You know another side effect of what i’m goign through right now is absentmindedness.
Awesome.
Daniela? LOL.
Do they not have cantaloupes in Brazil? Damn. I’m going to google this right now.
Okay Brazil exports honeydew, watermelon and cantaloupe into the U.S. She has no excuse.
seriously melon milkshake sounds terrible. what’s wrong with you?!
maybe they just call it something else in Brazil.
like
melonitas cantalopas
HAHAHAHAHAHAH
MELON milkshake??? urrrgh.
then again, i go crazy for purple-taro-flavor like a cat for catnip.
wasn’t this post about electronic products??
s
MELON milkshake??? urrrgh.
then again, i go crazy for purple-taro-flavor like a cat for catnip.
wasn’t this post about electronic products??
s
PS: i have *heard*, but cannot verify, that McDs mint Shamrock shakes will change the color of yr poo. i mean, scary. ppl say this, but i dunno if it’s an urban legend, or if u have to drink like five of the damn things, or what.
McShakes, no matter what flavor, are WEIRD.
OK, if no comments on Apple iPods, how about this story?
++++++++++++++
Singapore anime figurine protesters meet real police
Reuters
Reuters - Friday, September 7
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070907/tap-singapore-protest-anime-c3bb44c.html
SINGAPORE, Sept 7 - A protest action by a group of Singaporeans with Japanese anime figurines such as the 5-inch tall Ultramen, robots and monsters with placards met some real-life police in the city-state.
A handful of fans of Japanese anime had turned up at a Singapore public park on August 25 with armfuls of the toys to protest against a clampdown on Internet downloading of anime material by Singapore animation distributor Odex.
The incident was not reported in the local press, but pictures and accounts have started circulating on many blogs and political Web sites. .
“The police didn’t stop us from what we wanted to do. But their being there was enough to intimidate,” the event’s organiser — who only wanted to be known by his online moniker Zer0 — told Reuters by telephone.
He added that police — who had four anti-riot vans at the scene — also took down the anime fans’ particulars and that they were filmed by plainclothes policemen. A police spokeswoman said she could not immediately comment.
Public protests are rare in Singapore, where outdoor demonstrations are banned and any public gathering of more than four people requires a permit.
Ooh I love “yam” flavoured ice cream too. Especially when purple. But down with KFC’s taro pie! Blehh.
guys. she lives in barcelona.
I’m completely impressed with how everyone’s talking with everyone, and no one at the same time.
wow, you should be on seinfeld
So does barcelona not have melonitas canteloupas?