

The Apple Voice - fbuilesv
http://zachholman.com/posts/the-apple-voice/

======
joblessjunkie
I like Apple products _in spite of_ that smug voice, not because of it.

Yes, the voice is clear and simple -- just like the products -- but I curdle
when I read Apple's copy, and have empathy for the brand haters.

~~~
tdoggette
"If you don't have an iPhone, well: you don't have an iPhone.*

I found those ads particularly offensive.

~~~
_frog
Smug and self congratulatory perhaps, but offensive? I don't think that's an
accurate description.

~~~
ChrisLTD
It plays into the caricature of Apple customers being holier-than-thou
cultists. I can tell you it bothered me as an iPhone user since v1.

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sp332
Check out Apple's identity statement that they put on press releases [edit:
this one's at least a year old]:

> Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS
> X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music
> revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the
> mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently
> introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and
> computing devices.

Compared to, say, Microsoft's:

> Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in
> software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
> their full potential.

~~~
ugh
Apple’s is a bit long and overly specific (Seriously, iWork? The software you
last gave a serious update more than three years ago?) but that’s more a sign
of an identity statement that has grown organically over the years instead of
being rewritten from scratch from time to time.

The general idea is good but I would simplify it quite a bit.

~~~
tesseract
I hadn't noticed, until sp332 pointed it out, that they were no longer leading
with "Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s..."

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lecha
Voice matters and it hard to build, especially for engineers.
<http://voiceandtone.com/> from MailChilp offers a good framework of designing
a voice by cataloguing touch-points between the software and the user. You may
or may not find MailChimp's voice fitting, but the framework itself is quite
useful.

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shapeshed
This is a Github internal memo doubling up as marketing. Smart.

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pkamb
"Here's everything we offer, soup to nuts." isn't really The Apple Voice.
That's more the "overly informal and conversational" voice you see so often
these days.

~~~
georgieporgie
I'll take informal and conversational, as long as it's also direct and
informative. The worst possible output is marketing-doublespeak or the
meaningless-checkbox-comparison page.

------
latchkey
I'm just wondering what Github's voice is towards Githire?

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nirvana
Interestingly, this post comes at a time when the Apple voice is changing. I
think they're taking it to the next level.

This was discussed in the blog of Ken Segall, who previously worked with Apple
(and with Jobs) on Apple's copy, including the "Think Different" campaign.

Here's the post: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3548981>

Increasingly, Apple is relying solely on imagery. The example billboard has no
text on it other than the product name.

Apple is showing, rather than telling, and it is transcendent in its ability
to do so-- it has established enough credibility with consumers that "easy to
use", is no longer a message it has to communicate.

Further, this also globalizes the brand as images do not have to be translated
to the local language, allowing a single voice to be present worldwide.

~~~
redwood
When a company achieves this level of domination, as shown by how we can speak
of it in almost ethereal ways, and as it builds a new mega-building, and as it
loses its founder/decider/symbol you've got to think it's approaching its high
water mark.

Consider just as skyscrapers correlate with recessions
([http://www.businessinsider.com/skyscraper-index-
skyscrapers-...](http://www.businessinsider.com/skyscraper-index-skyscrapers-
signal-financial-recession-2012-1?op=1)), Apple is almost certainly going to
begin to unravel.

~~~
J3L2404
Well the people who actually have money in the game disagree. They are very
well positioned for future growth. Shorting Apple is suicide.

~~~
ChrisLTD
The same people were convinced in 2008 that housing prices would still go up.
Not that they're necessarily wrong this time, but I would maintain skepticism.

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andersh
Apple fans try and write in the Apple Voice. Example: HN comment threads about
Apple.

~~~
treetrouble
I would go so far as to say most HN comments mimic that style

------
Flam
It's called tone.

