Apple has been capturing a lot of headlines lately. Some of the stories have been great news for Apple, detailing record profits, due in part to a sales spike after the iPhone’s new access to the Verizon network.
Other stories haven’t been as welcome. The latest version of the iPad made headlines all around the world when it arrived, when it was discovered that global positioning programming in iPhones and iPads were recording and transmitting data about the unit’s location. Privacy advocates were especially enraged, and lawsuits have been filed, when it was discovered that the transmission occurred without the owner’s knowledge or consent, even when the iPad itself was shut off.
How Big of a Problem is this for Apple?
This isn’t the first time that Apple has had high profile technical problems. The iPhone 4, for example, had a well-publicized design flaw with its antenna. But this issue is different. This time, it’s personal.
Privacy occupies a place of particular importance in our culture, and that importance grows exponentially as we live more and more of our lives online. We define ourselves by the choices we make about our personal information. We have a high expectation of control; we know what we want to share and what we choose to keep to ourselves.
The iPad incident reveals that that control was illusory at best. Consumers never had an opportunity to opt in or out of this iPad functionality. The decision was made for them.
How big of a problem is this for Apple? In large part, the answer to this question boils down to how deeply Apple’s best customers, their Brand Lovers, are invested in the idea of control over their personal information.
Brand Modeling: Knowing Your Customers
Brand Modeling is the art and science of predicting customer behavior in a dynamic environment. Before you can accurately forecast how your customers will act in any given situation, however, you need to understand the factors and forces that go into their decision-making process.
Privacy is deeply and directly tied to our sense of trust. There has to be a significant amount of trust in place before we’re willing to share the information that most closely defines us. We expect that information to be used only in specified ways and explicitly protected from all who would use it for ill gain. Violating that trust is enough to damage even the strongest relationship.
But is that true for Apple’s best customers? The question may not be entirely black and white. Privacy can be viewed as a continuum. Realistically, Apple has long known that hard core privacy fanatics, the type of people who make sure they leave no footprints on the virtual landscape, are not their best customers. Are Apple’s Brand Lovers as concerned with privacy? Time will tell.
If the iPad’s biggest enthusiasts accept the collection and transmission of geographic information as no big deal, then this moment will pass with barely a ripple. Apple will emerge relatively unscathed, tasked to do better with the next version of the iPad.