Apple Branding vs. Micorosoft Branding

I recently read two articles, one which detailed apple's branding strategy and how it has been able to build it's image and develop an almost cult like following, and the other which focused on Microsoft not being able to maintain it's brand image after the realease of Windows Vista.

Article 1: Apple: It's All About the Brand

Article 2: Is Microsoft’s Brand Strategy Poised to Fail Again?

 I started wondering about how Apple has been able to create an emotional bond with most of it's customer base after the extremely successful launch of the iPad. The detailed breakdown of the hardware shows that it's nothing but a faster iPhone with a larger screen. But a lot of people have praised it as being the "next big thing in portable computing". How's it that Apple's able to push out prodducts with minor changes and generate so much enthusiasm amongst the public?

As article 1 above mentions;

"It's like having a good friend. That's what's interesting about this brand. Somewhere they have created this really humanistic, beyond-business relationship with users and created a cult-like relationship with their brand. It's a big tribe, everyone is one of them. You're part of the brand."

It also states why people feel so strongly about the Apple brand and why they are so loyal to it:

"People are anxious and confused. Technology is accelerating faster and faster than we can keep up with. People need to find some grounding, that human touch, the leading hand. There's a need to recreate tribes that give people a grounding."

Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2002/12/56677#ixzz0krepr4BJ

Microsoft, on the other hand, have created an image of pompous disregard for the desires of the people. Many "geeks" think of it as the symbol of enslavement, of sucking people in to their line of products and making them incapable of moving to another brand via proprietary protocols and mutilation of common standards by injecting their own "flavor" in to it (this is what I think ;)). The Microsoft office and Visual Studio line of products can be taken as an example.

The irony is that Apple does the same thing and are able to project an image of justice and liberation on to the public. They have their own operating system, their own line of software for it and their own distribution services. They control distribution channels with an iron fist. Their recent move to block flash and all apps  that use it could be given as an example. But people feel that Apple is doing it for their own good, while in reality it's done to lock people in to their products and beat down their competitors.

Apple and Microsoft are like twins separated at birth, having being born out of the ideas of the Xerox labs. But Apple has been able to surpass it's huge, wealthy brother due to the genius of people like Jobs, it's dedication to designing user friendly devices with great software and having a marketing team that could beat the crap out of Microsoft's any given day!