An Open Letter to Steve Jobs

Sep 17, 1998

According to several recent reports like this one, Apple's iMac is poised to take top spot as the best-selling computer in the US for the month of August, and will probably shatter an all-time record set by Compaq's Presario for computer sales in the process. It may already be official by the time you read this.

Elsewhere in the world, sales of the iMac in Japan, and more recently Australia, have also been nothing short of phenomenal. Japan for instance has already sold out its entire quota of iMacs for the present quarter. By electing it as the first country in the world outside the US and Canada to receive the iMac, Apple has respectfully accorded to Japan a truly warm gesture of reciprocation for the support that the Japanese have long given to the computer maker.

And today, Steve Jobs will be delivering a keynote address in Paris during the Apple Expo, his first trip outside of the US as Apple's present CEO, to join in the celebrations of the iMac's launch in France. And it is a trip which I think is significant on a number of counts.

You can't fax a handshake or the look in somebody's eyes

The caption isn't mine. I heard it on a TV commercial some time back, and was reminded of it while writing this article. Earlier this year, Bill Gates visited Singapore and didn't pass up the chance to have a quick bite at the Singapore ONE pie, offering a slew of initiatives that will see Microsoft involve itself intimately with Singapore's drive to get totally wired by the turn of the century. In doing so, the software giant will gain a firm foothold into Singapore ONE, the country's showpiece of its IT 2000 plan, entrenching itself securely as the virtual de facto standard in Singapore. (Incidentally, some of you in the US may already have access to Singapore ONE. The NCB press release above mentions that selected content from Singapore ONE is supposedly available to some 100,000 American users on the @Home Network, a cable modem network in the US.)

For Gates, Singapore ONE would simply be another business deal in the bag. But to be wooed by the world's wealthiest man who also happens to own the biggest software empire on the planet must certainly be an overwhelming honor for Singapore by any account, and thus a landmark deal was sealed.

Likewise, Gates also features prominently in Malaysia's heavily-touted Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project, which is a major component of the country's Vision 2020 IT initiative. The MSC will become Malaysia's very own Silicon Valley, if you like. And Gates will be a central figure in this grand venture. Clearly, he is a very shrewd entrepreneur who seizes every good business opportunity that presents itself to him. Or rather, he makes the effort to establish the right contacts with decision-makers who dream up ambitious endeavors like Singapore ONE and the MSC.

More recently, in late August, Netscape's CEO James Barksdale also stopped over in Singapore to address business leaders here. During his brief visit, he also sealed a major e-commerce joint venture deal with government-owned Singapore Network Service (SNS), which serves an impressive user base in this region.

Both are CEOs of eminent corporations in the computing/Internet industry, and both travel widely in search of new business opportunities. And to establish a stronger image of their respective companies.

Far away from the US, where the saga of Apple Computer's trials and tribulations is eagerly followed like some long-running soap opera, (which brings to mind TNT's coming "Pirates of Silicon Valley") the persona of Steve Jobs may not loom as large in this part of the world, and I attribute this to the simple fact that he doesn't make as many international house calls as say Bill Gates does. Perhaps Jobs should follow up on his visit to France today with a world tour to countries coinciding with the iMac's schedule of international launches. Certainly, the opportunity to meet — and more importantly — listen to the charismatic CEO in the flesh is guaranteed to boost Apple's image in these parts of the world, and push iMac sales even further through the roof. And surely, an hour spent listening to Jobs would have a much more profound impact than an entire season of watching even the cleverest iMac ads. It's basic marketing strategy: when you're launching your company's most important product in history, you'd better put your best man on the job. And Jobs' the man.

Now that Apple is on a roll, buoyed by reports of phenomenal iMac sales in the US and elsewhere around the world, and stories of iMacs literally "flying off shelves", the company would do well to keep the momentum going. And I wouldn't be overly complacent, thinking that international sales are guaranteed to soar across the board like what we've seen so far in Japan and Australia, or hope to see in Europe pretty soon. Particularly of concern is whether there will be sustained interest in the iMac after the euphoria of the honeymoon has worn off. As it is, some teething problems have already surfaced and miffed more than a few new iMac owners. To its credit, however, Apple has demonstrated its eagerness to quickly resolve these hiccups and restore customer confidence. Still, I don't think the iMac will sell itself just like that; you really need to fire all pistons on this one, especially in the present context of Asia.

The real concern in Asia facing Apple right now is not so much the company's perennial struggle to fight for market share against the competition, but the current recession faced by the region. Everyone in the market is equally burdened by it, and no end to the economic woes is in sight. Hence, the recent pitch by Jeff Martin — Apple's director of worldwide design and publishing — during the Macworld Expo in Singapore earlier this year that the iMac is one way for small and home businesses to emerge and stay competitive in a shrinking market, is a good plausible strategy and should be reinforced. It is especially pertinent now that we are moving away from the traditional economies where size matters, and headed towards a knowledge-based one, where it doesn't.

Still going after the Installed Base?

Each time I come across MacTimes' Low End Mac banners on the Web, I'm reminded that 4 out of every 5 Macs ever built are still in use today. There must be a ring of truth to it; although I'm usually working on my PowerMac 8500 and an AppleVision 1710AV, I still own a Color Classic (my first-ever Mac) and an LCII, which are both in fine condition even if I happen to use them less frequently. Which is a testament to the enduring quality of the Mac. But it is also the very reason why Apple cannot continue to rely heavily on its installed base to keep buying its products. Sooner or later, this installed base will be saturated. So Apple must make a serious effort to expand its user base by winning over new customers. I must admit I am not all that impressed by the reported 28% aggregate of computer neophytes and PC-converts who bought an iMac during a recent store survey; it just means Apple's still depending on existing Mac users for 72% of its sales. This is likely to be both true within the US and on a global level. And so I think it's time for Apple to launch its not-so-secret weapon.

| C O N T I N U E S . . . |

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