I must admit, it is still a conversation piece. I bought my iPhone the very first day it was on sale over 2 years ago.

I convinced my son that it could be cool to stand in line and hold a place for me until I could arrive after work. He did. It was. We bought one of the last 8Gb models available here in town that first day.

How is it? It’s hip. It delivers an engaging experience. And that is what Apple is famous for. And that the iPhone was expected to deliver.

An engaging experience. I didn’t say the best. Or the fastest or most feature laden. Engaging.

Consider that the iPhone cost (at that time) a lick less than $600 … about the cost of an entry-level PC laptop or even a fairly loaded PC desktop system. But this was for merely a phone!

Consider that before all the pertinent details were released by Apple, people were chomping at the bit to get their hands on one.

Consider that consumers were driven to a level of advocacy that they were willing stand in line for hours on end, some lining up days ahead of release.

An engaging experience. I didn’t say the best. Engaging.

Engaging. Creating an anticipation of an experience that transcends price or rational scrutiny.

Consider how your company can create experiences that generate customer expectations that create this kind of customer behavior.

Worth some thinking?