Apple: Obtuse or Opaque?

When HBS case studies are written about the iPhone, they will be glowing - but there will always be an asterisk. That the product rocked, but that it muddled through other 3ps of the 4Ps of marketing.

First you had the AT&T partnering issues and its refund coupon of $ 100 in the US and now the - mock-your-customer $ 1,483 T-Mobile German version. Sure blame the phone companies. Blame Vodafone for causing the T-Mobile issues. In the end, though, it is Apple's brand. You have to wonder what the Apple alliances and business development folks have been doing - not once but twice.

And if Apple is getting a cut out of the phone company pricing, as is generally rumored, why not disclose it? In this age of transparency that is the right thing to do. Its brand popularity should have been able to justify pricing much better than the phone companies can. Cell phone companies, at the best of times are not that popular - they top lists of consumer complaints logged by Better Business Bureau.