“Dear Steve, You Broke my Heart! iPAD?” May 22, 2013Expert BlogsOff

Dear Steve,

You broke my heart! iPad?! Seriously?! Let’s get together for lunch. You let us down on this one. Please hire and empower senior female execs! It is difficult not to feel completely disrespected.

This morning, I awoke from sleep still passionately frustrated about the naming of your new product, iPad. I have admired and cheered on Apple for many years. I’ve purchased, in their first release, nearly every single product you have launched. You have been a forward thinking game-changer.

But this one threw me for a loop. It forced me to do some research and find the answer to how you could possibly make the mistake of naming the new product an iPAD. Women globally go to only one place with this: feminine hygiene. But, the answer quickly became clear: you have no females in your senior strategic business ranks, despite women being your dominant market.

You missed one big opportunity on this one, Steve. Fifteen years ago, the target consumer was different – male. However, today, it’s changed and changed big; it’s now women! How could strategic conversations about product design, features, and marketing possibly be fruitful without women at the table? Women are THE unstoppable market today and are an even bigger force for the future! And, we all know that women think very differently than men. With more women in influential positions, you’d be sitting in an even better spot, with even better products, more meaningful features and bigger markets.

Perhaps you were thinking of women and I missed something in your launch… like donating significant percentages of your revenues on each iPAD sold to buying sanitary pads for girls in developing countries so girls don’t miss entire weeks of school and learning, and gain confidence in being a woman. There’s an idea. Could have made this brand launch pretty interesting… and potentially powerful… that is… if you would have really moved forward with a name like iPAD after listening to the voices of the ladies in the ranks. To speed things up, let’s get you partnered up with She28, an organization whose mission is exactly this!

Or maybe, you were trying to bring humorous thinking about all of the interesting accessories that could accompany the iPad… like adhesive strips to enable users to just stick it to their stomachs for easy carrying, line adjacencies called “the Mini iPAD” and the “Maxi iPAD,” a red accessory line (including an iPad protector, ear buds, docking station and battery), an iPAD helpline so women can call in for help with any symptoms, “wings” to enable the iPAD to rest comfortably in the park and not leak anywhere or even “hands free” application technology. Joking is the only way we, as women consumers everywhere, keep from losing our cool on this one, Steve.

I can’t imagine a leader like you doesn’t have the facts… just set up a news alert about women and market share?! Women dominate every industry, including health care, automotive, housing, travel, consumer products, finance and yes, technology, entertainment, and communications. That’s right, today women control 70% of all consumer spending worldwide. The earning power of women is expected to reach $18 trillion by 2014, more than double the GDP of India and China combined! Women represent the majority of the online market, and yes, women indeed see the experience differently than men. Lastly, it has been proven that by authentically serving women (meaning you talk with them, listen to them, understand them and act on their behalf), you generate higher sales by men also. Do you hear what I’m saying? With female voices in the mix of your branding and technology feature/set discussions, you could indeed own the world without dealing with reputational challenges like the one you’ve created with the iPAD.

Now, I can’t say I know firsthand about your business culture. However, I am certain that the women who do work for Apple are brilliant, including the two female leaders I was able to find online (in accounting and legal departments). My point is that you can do more. You can listen better. You can empower them more and increase even further your market share. Put yourself in the position of someone on the outside looking in during this debacle. It just doesn’t look good.

Not having women in your executive ranks is neither a “nice-to-have,” nor should it simply be on your wish list. Without them, you are running your company, an amazing one at that, seemingly ignorant of whom your market is… women! If you want our help, we’re in. We’ve done it before to staggering success. If not, that’s OK, too. But clearly, Apple needs to be awakened to the opportunities, and maybe even “WOLFed.” Add women, improve your culture by giving them voices, listening to their voices. Voices that are influential, authentic and passionate. You’ll win with everyone, hands down and hands free!

And, how could you have missed that MadTV spoof?! iPad at that time was a joke developed by creative and funny writers. And, let’s look at the device… Pricing: great! Wi-fi accessibility: Yes! Touch-screen: Yes! Battery life: Good. But what about getting a double-chin and neck pain unless you hold it vertically? No memory slot? No flash support? Weak memory options? This could have opened an enormous market for the baby-boomers with women helping you.

This could have been THE new game-changing device… but instead, it alerted the rest of the world to a shortcoming in your company: listening to women.

Steve J, on this one you got me (and apparently others as well) as your stock dropped 5% yesterday. No doubt, history shows you’ve done well. In fact, Apple is legendary. But, consider what you could do with this situation… making change for women, setting an example for other organizations, strengthening your market position, and strengthening your reputation (instead of weakening it).

Please… give me reason to believe in you again and let’s have lunch and transform Apple to THE place for women shoppers and consumers!

Disappointed formerly passionate fan,
Julie Gilbert
Founder and CEO of WOLF Means Business

By Julie Gilbert

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