A political lesson from Apple is that the way to develop a brand is to keep it in plain sight while you pretend you are keeping secrets.  What Apple products do is what everyone else's products do, similar to how all 100 senators and 435 House members do exactly the same thing, that is, talk about it. The percentage of the market that is Mac is tiny compared to PC. The percentage of IPhones and ITouches is not better.   How to keep from disappearing in the flood of new products from MSFT, DELL and Blackberry? Make each product announcement as if it were a revelation. Build quality products for a restless, envious, possessive, educated consumer class and provide high-end and cosmetic Apple stores like frantic legations to the bourgeoisie.   Preach that you are a software company (conceptions) while you maintain profits (donations) on the hardware (regulations). Who made this Steve Jobs created theatrical style sheet work for a pol? David Axelrod.  What must happen when six months go by?  Make ready to sell the same old Apple in a new wrapping -- or someone else will.