Did New Marketing Tactics Make iPhone X the Greatest iPhone Yet?

You may not have heard, but last week Apple released a new iPhone, the iPhone X (pronounced as 10, not “ecks”). What makes this device so much different than its predecessors is that it finally has many of the features that competitor devices have had for a while.

When previous devices have been released, Apple has always kept them a secret, really building up the excitement for the keynote event and then the device release. Previous releases started with the keynote, which previewed what Apple thought would be the best features of the new phone. After that, members of the media were invited to get a quick hands-on demonstration of the device. This phase of the launch remained the same.

After the keynote, Apple would give devices to some well-known websites and publications, so they could spend some time with the phone and give their reviews of it. Although these companies may have the devices, and may had already written their reviews, Apple would not allow them to publish the review until a date and time specified by Apple, usually before release day.

For the launch of the iPhone X, Apple took a very different approach:

Apple allowed reviewers to publish much earlier. In fact, the first few reviews of the iPhone X were published about four days before its release.

Additionally, Apple provided a small group of YouTube stars iPhone Xs to have a hands-on experience before it was released. Apple let the YouTube stars review the phone for a 24-hour period so that they would be able to give a solid review.

After receiving comments and reviews from the YouTube stars, Apple then sent out a press release, days before the phone’s actual release, which included these comments. The press release was matched with many hands-on videos by YouTubers, some of which were not big names and have smaller audiences.

Another tactic that changed was the focus of the iPhone X. If you notice, many of the ads Apple released focused on the fun features of the phone and not so much on the specs of the it.

Animojis, awesome photos, FaceID and augmented reality! Who cares about the processor chips or that other technical stuff?!

These new tactics Apple employed were done in a strategic way to really increase excitement and elevate the desire of consumers. Were these tactics successful though?

The day pre-orders for the iPhone X began, the company was forced to push back shipments to customers to late November, and then December, all within minutes. Apple responded to the news by saying that iPhone X demand is “off the charts.” That may be true, but in order to truly see the it's success, you have to look at the numbers. Forbes reported that shares for the Apple stock opened out the trading day on Nov. 3rd at $174 a piece, representing a new all-time opening high.

So, it looks like the iPhone X really may be the greatest iPhone yet!