Apple's 'Think Different' Trademark Extended to Apple Watch, iPad, Siri, and More

Unfortunately Apple has its current thinking set at "very same". It’s very apparent Apple’s current strategy is to go for the $, but its trajectory is completely off in terms of great products. If 5SE is really a serious product name and protruding camera lenses continue alongside visible antenna bands and differentiated models-- investors dump your stocks. Apple needs to get back to pure simplicity. The product line up is becoming bloated and worst of all, confusing. The designs look average and the result of compromises. Apple needs to trash its Beats branding-- they’re just not "Apple" quality. These two ads from 2007 and 2008 highlight thinking different with the simplicity and purity of the product design offered and the way in which each product was marketed in a clever fashion. They also communicate the clarity of the Apple brand at the time.
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Too late Apple. Until you think differently again.

Are we sure they didn't mean to trademark 'Thin different' this time? ;)

"Think money."

I'm going to pass on this one.
It's just too easy and kind of sad.

This was quite true and effective back in the day when they were a personal computer company with a minority market share.

Now that they are a ubiquitous disposable mobile device maker, it seems a bit incongruous and disingenuous. But probably designed to play on the fight with the powers that be over security vs. privacy.

Apple might do well to study the failure of Columbia Records PR campaign to establish itself as an "anti-establishment" "rock" label in the late 60's early 70's. I'm sure Jobs was familiar with the notable failure, even Rolling Stone laughed at them as they took their ad money.

Why it's occasionally beneficial to keep old people around.

:apple:

Too bad it's now *just* a slogan. I wish they still did think different. :(

Should really be, "Think differently."

No. "Think different" means something like, when you think of Apple, think of the word "different". It's like saying when you think of New York, Think Broadway or Think pizza. It's not suggesting a way of thinking, it's asking you to think of Apple as a different kind of product or experience.

The trademark, widely assumed to be a response to IBM's motto "Think", continued to feature in Apple TV and print ads up to the launch of the iMac G4 in 2002, but has not appeared since.

Huh, I never made the connection until now. Today I learned. :D

The saddest part is how sucked into a large companies marketing slogan you sound. Choose products for what they do for you, not because of catchy slogans and slick ads. On that metric (review scores, and customer satisfaction) they're doing as well as ever.
...
However the whole slogan can be interpreted in a million different ways.

Except that they won't be unless they prioritize customer experience over 'business as usual' (i.e.: the way everyone else does it). I'm not sure if you remember Apple in the mid-90s before Jobs returned. They had CEOs who were 'industry experts' who were doing the kinds of things that the tech industry thought they should do. They were also failing at it. When Steve returned, Apple did many things that the industry and media laughed at.... but, it worked, in spades.

While, yes, 'think different' means many things, that was at least one of them... and arguably the most important one to Apple's actual success. Given all the posters that went along with the slogan, they obviously meant a blend of 'outside the box' thinking, along with a more people oriented thinking.

If you think it was *just* a meaningless marketing slogan, then IMO, you don't really know what made Apple different. Sure, all these kinds of marketing slogans tend to be idealistic or 'over the top' but I can guarantee you, as a nearly 30-year Apple evangelist, that Apple did indeed, think different. That's what has me so concerned right now. They are starting to act more like a big, stupid company.... more like other tech companies... than the Apple I know and love.

And frankly, seeing this shift, stuff like review scores and customer satisfaction ratings are fairly meaningless. By the time you start seeing it substantially in those kinds of metrics, it will be too late. If you're a long-time Apple user, you'll recognize the slip in software quality, the lack of following hard-learned UI/UX principals, the shift in following the big pie-slice to the detriment to other areas of the eco system, killing off critical professional tools and product lines, etc. You'll also note the shift in marketing decisions... like a 16GB base model iPhone to get that up-sell at the expense of a lot of users being too cramped on space (i.e.: having a bad experience with a premium luxury product, that is under spec'd compared to the much cheaper competition). Or, selling devices that are already obsolete (ex: when Apple released iOS 8, it pretty much killed 512k RAM devices, yet because Apple has taken this product-line idea of selling old stuff at reduced prices - as an actual part of the product line! - they were still selling iPad minis... BRAND NEW), once again, putting profits ahead of user experience.

Profits are important. But, user experience is what made Apple great. If they forget that, it's the beginning of the long, painful journey back down.