Why would anyone buy a 13 inch MacBook Air?

Why not buy the Pro? It’s faster, has more memory, it’s actually only 700 grams heavier and .7cm thicker (or 2.4cm ‘thin’ in Applespeak) and it costs exactly the same.

Why pay a chunk of cash for less of something?

When I asked my Twitter friends who had one they talked about needing something ultra-portable, fast, lightweight (although they weren’t sure exactly how much lighter it was). One had blogged about the Air’s “Awwwww” factor.

The 13 inch MacBook Air is a classic example of the illogical purchasing decisions we make every day. It offers less of everything for roughly the same price. Less memory and less storage. It’s slower and has a shorter battery life. But who wouldn’t want to own “The world’s thinnest notebook”?

According to Harvard marketing professor Gerald Zaltman a tiny fraction of our decisions, just 5%, are based on logic. The truth is people aren’t buying your specifications and your facts.

The path to success is littered with great ideas poorly marketed, but armed with this knowledge Apple succeeds by marketing to the whole customer. By giving us products we love as much as our cat, and making us want them by understanding our heart’s desires, then telling us that story.

Image by rando mix.