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With all due respect to Katie Cotton, Apple's brand is so strong today because their products are so good. Her biggest contribution was to have the discipline to keep PR out of the products' way.

The article speculates that the low-key PR campaign was itself part if the mystique, but it's easy to overestimate that. The truth is that playing hard to get only works well if you're hot.

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This was my thought as well. My current laptop -- a Retina MacBook -- is the best I've ever owned. I can only imagine that her job was made easier by the fact that the underlying products Apple sells, while not perfect, are remarkably good.

This is not to downplay the crisis management and other things mentioned by OP. She was/is apparently quite skilled at her job.

Agreed, and it's a common error, I.e., that someone ascribes mysticism to an object that he himself is mystified by.

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