Prada's iPhone competitor, and more

As everyone already knows, new AT&T ads that started airing recently have set an iPhone release date for June 29. I am very interested in trying it out. I was impressed by the touch-sensitive concept when it was announced earlier this year, and both online demos and the new AT&T ad make me want to hold the system in my hand and take if for a spin. If Apple has truly created a revolutionary new mobile phone UI concept, then more power to them.

On the other hand, there are signs that the concepts embodied in the iPhone have been percolating around the industry for awhile. At the very least, however, the iPhone has managed to accelerate those concepts to market, which is a good thing.

One thing Apple will have going for it, however, is its brand. Apple has created a strong brand through the success of its iPod, a brand that has had an obvious halo effect on sales of Apple computers. Part of that success is due to Apple spinning itself as a luxury brand, a term which grates on some more technophile Apple users, but not something Apple or its many non-technical users are likely to reject. Luxury brands carry high profit margins...and Apple hardware looks great.

Apple's skillful use of invidious distinction, however, shapes how competitors should compete with them. That's why I find LG's new co-development project with Prada so smart.

When you compete with a luxury brand, you usually have to do so with another luxury brand. You can build such a brand yourself, which is no mean feat, or you can work with established luxury brands to create a competitive product without the expense of custom brand creation (from what I've heard, $500 million is an often-bandied price point). Prada is a well-known luxury brand, and they are probably attracted to the electronics market now that Apple has demonstrated that it is possible to turn computing accessories into luxury goods. Computing products have come a long way.

Of course, LG/Prada will need to carefully consider their product marketing if they aren't going to end up run over by the Apple marketing machine. Even so, I don't expect this joint venture to be the first. There are probably lots of luxury brands looking for avenues of entry into computing products.

Other Apple news: The EFF recently complained that Apple was adding user-identifiable information to media files purchased through the iTunes store. Those details consist of a name and email address for the purchasing user, and is a practice normally associated with "watermarking," an alternative to DRM which allows the file to be run anywhere while providing some ability to track down the source of a pirated music file.

I'm curious to know what, if anything, would satisfy the EFF. Is it just that the information is immediately identifiable as a name and email address? Would they prefer some random ID number the mapping of which is known only to Apple? Or, are they saying that not only is DRM verboten, but watermarking is as well, putting the EFF on record as being against ANY way for copyright holders to protect themselves from digital media piracy?