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Steve Jobs Biography: About Those Ubiquitous iPod Ads

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One noticeable aspect of Apple's iPod advertising were the sheer number of iPod ads on television and in billboards. At the time, it seemed as if Apple was just being particularly aggressive with their adverting, but Steve Jobs' Biography revealed that those ubiquitous iPod ads were actually being subsidized by the Mac.

"I had this crazy idea that we could sell just as many Macs by advertising the iPod. In addition, the iPod would position Apple as evoking innovation and youth. So I moved $75 million of advertising money to the iPod, even though the category didn't justify one hundreth of that. That meant that we completely dominated the market for music players. We outspent everybody by a factor of about a hundred."

So, the so-called iPod "halo" effect resulting in more Mac sales was something that Jobs relied upon. In fact, it allowed them to outspend all their competitors for a large factor which further cemented the iPod's lead in the MP3 market.

Top Rated Comments

188 months ago
Well it worked. As an example, I bought a MacBook based solely on my use of the iPhone.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
188 months ago
Jobs was a genius in marketing.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ivan P Avatar
188 months ago
Any day now I'm expecting Mac Rumors to just post the entire biography online.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
188 months ago
Then again, if you kept reading, Jobs was completely against at releasing iTunes for Windows even though it meant huge music revenues. Fortunately he did what he thought at the time was wrong due to strong pressure from his vice presidents.
And if I remember correctly PC world voted iTunes as the best PC application for the year of its release!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
188 months ago
Well it worked. As an example, I bought a MacBook based solely on my use of the iPhone.
Completely agree I went from 'testing' an iPhone 3GS to now having a household of 2x 3GS, iPhone 4, iMac, apple TV and airport throughout the house. Just waiting for the HP laptop to die so the missus will let me buy an iPad :)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
188 months ago
Then again, if you kept reading, Jobs was completely against at releasing iTunes for Windows even though it meant huge music revenues. Fortunately he did what he thought at the time was wrong due to strong pressure from his vice presidents.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)