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Apple has just revealed that its ad budget for 2009 was half-a-billion ($)!

Remarkable investment given the recession but the results do speak for themselves as the Mac, iPhone and iPod continue to rise in popularity.

Read more here.

Tech PR blogger Paul Stallard has tagged me to list three communicators, living or dead, who have most influenced my way of thinking professionally and personally.

So here goes…

First one I’ll choose is Eugen Beer. Eugen was the founder of my first agency Beer Davies who were responsible for some fantastically extravagant PR stunts and campaigns such as Mattel’s Pink Street and the Cup-a-Soup comedy challenge. Eugen, more than anyone, has shaped my creative approach and taught me to stand by my convictions even when client’s raise eyebrows at our thinking.

Secondly, Oasis. These guys are a dying breed, a band that played music for the love of it and wouldn’t be sugar-coated by any producer, manager or record label. They said what they wanted, what they believed in and didn’t care who disagreed (or agreed for that matter). Oasis taught me one thing, consumers and the media will always forgive true talent.

My final selection is two-for-one: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Over the past few decades these two have become masters at using the media to achieve business success. And one couldn’t have done it without the other. The media love rivals and these two recognised that and have been playing the PR game ever since.

I tend not to invest too heavily in inspirational figures, which is why my selection was quite tough to reach however it’s quite fun to reflect from time to time and think about who has made me the PR I am today!

Who’s next? Well I’m going to tag Joel Cere, Candace Cuss and Will Sturgeon.

I love this idea from Stan Shroeder at Mashable!

Location-aware iPhone applications that show up on your device for download when you’re in a certain place.

Would provide a fantastic new channels for marketers! Imagine as you walk past the latest Audi advert and get an alert to download the Audi Game application. Or how about an app from Scoot available in bars which let you order a pick-up after one too many pints.

Take note Apple!

An Amazon insider has apparently let slip that an updated version of Amazon’s Kindle will be in stores before the end of the year.

Maybe my headline is a little harsh, Amazon did deem v1.0 a success (despite not actually releasing any sales figures), but it hardly set the world alight.

The rumours state that they plan on making it bigger and producing the model in a range of “appealing” colours. But, this doesn’t detract from the fact that consumers will be asked to carry around another gadget when the ones they have already are getting very close to achieving the same thing.

The iPhone has a e-book reader and a number of classics available for under a pound. And many other books are available from third parties in PDF form which can be read on your iPhone.

The one advantage Amazon does have is its range of content available, but is that enough for us to part with close to £300!

My guess is that this rumour is exactly that, a rumour. I should imagine Amazon will extend its MP3 iphone app with an e-book version and do what it has done very well for nearly 15 years – sell books!

Well all publicity is good publicity it would seem as Apple report record sales of its new 3G iPhone over the weekend. They shifted a massive 1m units in just 3 days compared with the 74 days it took for the original iPhone to hit six digits.

And despite the first-day nerves, consumers have been flocking to the App
Store to bolster their new toy with the latest and greatest widgets and
games. 10m widgets and games in fact. No doubt the PR-bods at Apple HQ will roll this figure out as much as possible as testament to the ease
of use of the iPhone and the App Store countering the negative press it
received over the weekend.

Various brands have been quick off the mark getting their foot in the App Store door, including Carling – one of our clients here at Hill & Knowlton – which launched its iPint and shot to the #1 spot in the Free Games category.

So as I mentioned earlier I wanted to touch on the recent iPhone 3G launch which many are dubbing iPocalypse. I’ve gone with iPhocalypse (see what I did there).

So Friday, the much hyped (rightly?) iPhone 3G hit UK shores and saw the inevitable queues outside O2 stores across the country. So far so good but remarkably Apple failed to deliver on the day, the problem was not so much stock (although they ran out within hours of stores opening) but the fact that those that did manage to get hold of them couldn’t activate them due to a glitch on the iPhone website. This has largely been fixed now and the iPhone 3G can now be seen attached to ears near you.

But what damage has this done to Apple and specifically the halo sitting above the iPhone?

Well the immediate affect is very little, the iPhone is still being hailed a revolution in communication and those that have one are reaching new levels of smugness. Those without (me included) having to deal with the inevitable
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jealousy. However longer term, Apple may feel the backlash. The new must-have gadget has launched in a much more competitive market than last year and competitors such as Samsung and HTC have much stronger products that can match and beat the iPhone in the functionality department. Already many consumers are questioning whether an iPhone is the right option for them and the bad publicity will do nothing to quell their concerns.

Apple has done the right thing by getting the problem fixed as quickly as possible and then addressing the PR fall-out, but competitors will now doubt see this as an opportunity to kick Apple while their down and ensure the way back up is as hard and as long as possible.

What a week for Apple and Google!

Fresh from Viacom-gate that put the search giant at the heart of a privacy storm, Google this week was lambasted by none other than the Daily Mail for planning to roll out its Street View service in the UK. This is the extension to the widely used Google Maps that allows users to view maps at street level. Google hasn’t admitted it plans to introduce Street View to the UK but vans with “Google” splashed across them carrying 20 external cameras driving around our major cities kind of gives the game away.

What’s interesting about this is the press reaction to Street View compared with when it launched Google Maps. That launch was vaulted as further online innovation – a step in the right direction, one that will benefit millions of people.

So what’s changed? Why hasn’t Google’s face blurring technology quelled any unrest around this forthcoming launch? Well for one the Viacom story has caused people to question just how anonymous they are online, soon our personal viewing habits (legal and illegal) will be picked over by a media giant. But also it shows how consumers are becoming much more aware of how far the Internet has come. Whereas a couple of years ago we welcomed any kind of unique service that further opened up the world from the comfort of our PCs, we have now become more intrigued by the motives behind online behemoths that have all but lost their “do no evil” charm.

And it’s no bad thing…

Whilst the lawyers shouldn’t get in the way of innovation, I do think it’s important that as consumers we engage in the discussions that services like Street View throw up. If nothing else it will make Google look at how it treats the personal data we freely hand over every day. More importantly however it allows us to have a direct influence on how the online world is shaped and how it affects our offline lives. The Internet and the www is becomming more and more integrated with every aspect of our lives and we shouldn’t rely on the Googles of the world to dictate how it changes the way we work, rest and play.

Whether Street View is good or bad (personally I have no problem with it), the debate will bring the best out of Google and will ultimately benefit the people that use it.

As for Apple…well I’ll get to the iPhone launch later!