Whats in a BRAND name ?

There is a reason why I am writing this post. A while back Apple announced that there were going to launch the "iphone" .. And that’s when the frenzy started... people were waiting outside the Apple store a week prior to the phone's release date... ya thats right... a Week ... now i do agree the phone did have some cool features (touch screen, ease to zoom in and out of photos, listen to music apple style, etc) ... but it also had a lot of and i mean a lot of blemishes , for one it wasnt a 3G phone so it accessing internet or steaming video would be extremely slow , there wasnt good GPS service, plus you could not download ring tones over the air. Now I do not want to get into the argument of its pros and cons, that’s for another post ... but the point I am trying to make here is how crazy people go over brand names ... just because it is Apple doesn’t mean there is nothing out there better than it or that being Apple it can justify the price tag ... but why wouldn’t they .. If there are people out there who would but an Apply irrespective of its cost, features, looks, etc. All that matters is that it is an Apply Brand electronic.

And now Sprint is launching its phone Samsung Instinct "iphone killer" with all the features that iphone lacked, at a price that’s one-third the cost of iphone, but still there is no media buzz about it. No people queuing for hours to get the phone. The Phone did sell out first day but there wasn’t any hype created by the media about it.

The same was the case when Apple launched its iPod. Once again the player was rocking no doubt with good features and good controls but again there were a lot of media files it could not play ( did not .. the Microsoft format ) .. And at the same time there were a number of other good players from good trust worthy companies like creative, iriver , etc
What I do not understand is this fascination with Brands... if it was Apple ipod again some Chinese make, unheard company, i can understand that... but when there are other equally good companies then why would someone still stick to a more expensive brand with obvious problems ... i fail to understand it ... do people do this just for Bragging rights or there is something here that i am missing here? or are these people taking loyalty to another level, i do not know ?

And it’s not just with Apple, but with a lot of other accessories in life ... apparels, handbags, sunglasses, you name it and it there. Once again some of you may argue that the fitting is different and the designers brands last longer and u can tell one from the other.... but frankly i cant. Just to give u an example, I was looking for a branded t-shirt.... i saw an Aeropostle white t shirt with AERO written on it for $20, walked into another shop saw an Abercrombie white tshirt with "A and F" written on it for $30, walked into a Hollister and saw the same white tshirt with "Hollister" written for $40 ..... my point if except for the brand name how are these different ... and why are Brand names so important , if its fits well and looks decent why not buy a regular decent brand ... My Newport and Wrangler jeans bought at the same time still fit me perfectly and are in excellent condition in spite of my rugged use and one costs ten times the other , ya believe that .....
Newport had cost me like 400 odd Rs while wrangler was like 4000, and when you don't tuck you tshirt no one can tell if its a wrangler or a Newport.

and if it were not for these words on the thirsts’ how could we tell the difference ... One of my friends in Boston who is big time into these branded stuff once saw my glasses and asked me "these look branded , how much did u get them for ". The truth being I had got them at a local store in my village, not even in Bombay. Point being that’s its not easy to identify a Brand unless its blatantly written on the apparel ... think about it ... other wise why else would the brands do that...

My Newport and Wrangler jeans bought at the same time still fit me perfectly and are in excellent condition in spite of my rugged use and one costs ten times the other , ya believe that .....
Newport had cost me like 400 odd Rs while wrangler was like 4000, and when you don't tuck you tshirt no one can tell if its a wrangler or a Newport.

That’s my $0.02...