Media Convergence, Apple And Steve Jobs

The media is a central force in shaping our culture and our democracy. (Campbell, Chapter 1). Media is where we get all of our information on what is going on around the world. It has developed from being something that was shared orally, to being one of the biggest influences on life in today’s society. With this development, we have encountered multiple companies battling to see who will come out on top. With the rise of the internet, media has developed into what we see today with the latest generation of teenagers who are completely reliant on their iPhones and being able to post pictures on Instagram, or Snapchat all of their friends. But how did it get to be this way? Stories and poems started off as an oral tradition where they were handed down from one generation to the next. Culture is a big part of media, and it spread once people learned how to write because they could copy down the stories they were being told, and share them with others that way as well.

The Information Age began with the development of the telegraph in the 1840s and when the Civil War rolled around, news had become something extremely valuable. The development of the telegraph is what led to the radio, fax machine and cellphone. The 1950s and 1960s were when the electronic phase of the Information Age really took off with the introduction of the television. Then personal laptops, cable TV, DVDs, cellphones, and smartphones were introduced and have continuously been updated into the technology we know today. Most teenagers in the 21st century have completely stopped watching shows on TV. Netflix users have skyrocketed and according to the website Statista, Netflix had 93. 8 million subscribers at the end of 2016. This has led to the saying “Netflix and Chill” which is used widely in the teenage population of the world, implying that two people will hang out to watch a movie on Netflix and end up hooking up with each other. The term media convergence has two separate meanings. The first involves the merging of content across many different media platforms. The second is called “cross platform”. This is the business model that allows the market to gain more resources.

The best example of media convergence would be your smartphone. You can use it to text, look up anything you can think of on the internet, or to check your e-mail. All of these things and more, were put together and then shrunk to fit into a pocket sized device that nearly everyone has today. One of the older explanations of how the media worked was that mass communication was a linear process - known as the Linear Model of Communication - used to produce and deliver messages to a large audience. In the linear model, senders would transmit the message through mass media channels to a large group of receivers. Gatekeepers would act as filters for the messages, and would decide which message would actually be produced for the receivers. The linear process also allows for feedback, where the audience could return messages to the senders through many media platforms, such as e-mails or phone calls. (Campbell, 1). In the digital era, the linear model does not work as well. It is a very bumpy path from point A to point B as words and images can cross over into one another. One of the reasons Apple got back on top was because Steve Jobs had big dreams for himself and the future of the Apple company. Steve Jobs had a vision of greatness for his company. Jobs made a very smart business deal with Microsoft in hopes of getting Apple back on their feet.

The linear model of convergence worked for Apple in the start, because they were able to create their products and market them to a wide audience who could then give them feedback on whether or not the product was good, and if it was actually needed in that age and society. Apple is now the biggest technology company in the world, supplying us with computers, watches, phones and more. In todays age, marketing is different, more compact and more focused on utilizing social media as a target. The historical two minute commercial inserted during a tv show is nonexistent; people use DVRs to avoid commercials and advertising has changed. You may just be scrolling through facebook or watching a YouTube video, but chances are good that you are going to be exposed to some sort of advertisement. The non-linear model of mass communication played a big part in Apple becoming as big of a company as they are today. The selective exposure model would play a bigger part as people were getting more interested in the technology. In the past, consumers would do their research on products and make a decision based on same.

With the advent of cookies and spyware, ad agencies can basically see everything that we search, and perform directed advertising aimed specifically towards your search parameters and show you all of the iPhones and iPads that you could ever want to see. During the 1984 Super Bowl, Apple displayed an advertisement for their Macintosh. The ad was so different from the rest that it caught the audience’s interest, although the computer was not actually ready for sales launch when it was said to be. After 1997 Apple scrapped everything that they ever had and started fresh, which included finding a new advertising company that they are still with today, to sell their products as best they can. It all started with the ‘Think Different’ campaign with the video of multiple famous people who have made a difference in the world even with all of the tough times that they faced, with a well worded script behind it. This campaign caught the eye of many people who were then interested in purchasing an Apple product.

Today, since Apple is such a large company, their advertising does not require much to gather interest from an audience, as they have become such a trademark and raised the bar of standards for other companies. Apple likes to keep things simple. It does not matter if it is the newest MacBook, iPhone, or even just the Apple Pencil, their profit margins stand to be higher because of the expansion of existing technology. They use bright colours against a black background to catch your eye, and they showcase the technology and what special features it may have that could be of use to you. One of their best marketing features is that every Apple product comes in a multitude of colours, so you get to choose your favourite one. Each version is an upgrade of a previous version which individuals are already familiar with. They also sell a PRODUCT RED iPhone, where all proceeds go to supporting HIV/AIDS programs. Apple uses the bandwagon advertising technique with their products as most people now have an Apple product and if you don’t you may be seen as “uncool”. Since no one wants to be uncool, they must then jump on the bandwagon to get a taste of the newest smartphone technology that is out there. In the end, Apple has come out on top of the technology industry by updating their products and software so regularly that it is nearly impossible for other companies, like Blackberry, to keep up. From utilizing any and all advertising techniques that they can, to knowing exactly what it is that the public wants in their technology, Apple has managed to dominate the media and technology industries in approximately 20 years.