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A few years back, Apple swept the world with its offerings of iPhone and iPad. Apple’s smartphone, specifically, became the height of cool and people flocked in millions to lay their hands on an iPhone. But thing are changing as a new market research reveals that teenagers no longer hold Apple as a cool brand.

The problem with ‘cool’ is that it is not exactly dependent on how functionally well a brand is. In terms of performance, Apple’s products still beat all its rivals. But why has the perception of the teens changed towards iPad and iPhone?

‘Cool’ is more of a social construct which relies on how exclusive a product is. There was a time when given its price, iPhone was exclusive – or at least, was thought to be a high-end smartphone owned by not virtually everyone. But things changed and as Apple’s products registered growth, iPhone and iPad became household names for every other U.S. home.

Now that both these brands are quite commonplace, they have lost their charm for the teens. Teens no longer view them as exclusive products and thus, that has taken away the appeal of ‘cool’ in them. What is interesting is that the very same teens believe that owning a Samsung Galaxy smartphone or a Microsoft Surface slate is a lot cooler than owning Apple products.

Again, that can be explained in terms of the limited ownership of these two brands. Compared to Apple’s iPhone and iPad, Samsung’s Galaxy lineup and Microsoft’s Surface tablet has sold a lot less units. Moreover, Apple has long focused on the more adult audience than catering much to the whims of the teens.

Buzz Marketing, which has now revealed these trends in its recent research, states, “Teens are telling us Apple is done. Apple has done a great job of embracing Gen X and older (Millennials), but I don’t think they are connecting with Millennial kids.”

However, over time, it has been realized that teens’ opinions are very fickle. They may wake some day to see an impressive Apple commercial and switch their votes back in favor of the company. So one can never bank on the teens’ opinions to forecast the success or failure of a given brand.

Courtesy: CNET

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