Sorry about the long title, but it occured to me today that the form factor of the iPod touch and the iPhone are nearly identical for one reason: to make it appear as if the iPhone is gaining marketshare.
In a nutshell, Apple's white iPod headphone strategy (as I discuss in my free eBook) has long embraced the power of users selling Apple's stuff for them. Everytime you see a person wearing those distinctive white headphones (or anytime you wear them) you are experiencing a powerful form of free viral marketing for Apple. This is word of mouth done on a silent level: what I call WOS - or Word of Silence. Anyone who witnesses this has an instinctive reaction to figure out what they are missing. And therein lies the power - people want to be part of the club. And how many times have you seen white headphones today? I bet the answer is A Lot.
Now Apple could have given the iPod touch a very different form factor, as they have done with every other iPod. But they made it nearly indistinguishable at first glance from the iPhone so people would begin to feel that the iPhone was getting more popular. Popularity drives demand and demand results in sales.
Have you seen an iPhone today? Can you tell the difference between it and the iPod touch?
