It is days till the release of the anticipated iPhone, and yet there are millions of posts and websites and articles and press releases and general chatter about this new phone that will revolutionize cell phones. The coolest thing about the hype that is surronding this phone (one expert is calling it a handheld computer) is that much of it is viral.Â
There are reports of some die-hard Apple / Mac users camping out in front of stores to be the first to get one. Apple has made some great strategic moves with building up the hype and perpetuating it through seeding tech opinion leaders with an early phone to test and use.  Another recent article cited global mobile use reaching a record high of 3 Billion due to increases in penetration in China, India, and Africa.
It is no wonder that marketing is still one of the biggest drivers of sales in both the offline and online arenas. So, with that being said, what are some of the lessons and take-aways from the clinic that Apple seems to be putting on?
- Start the hype early
- Under-promise and over-deliver (yet to be seen for the iPhone, but always a good rule)Â
- Seed the opinion leaders
- Create a community
- Make good product. Good product = loyal, raving, fanatical buyers
- Design and functionality are important
- Multi-faceted approaches to marketing (don’t put all of your eggs in one basket)
I think entrepreneurs from most every industry can really take away some cool lessons about the launch of this product. We will wait to see if the product really delivers on the hype, but we can agree that there has been alot of ‘exposure’ in just plain hype.
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