For Apple marketing team:

Don’t refer to iPhone as a “smartphone”; just as an iPhone.

For example, don’t say the “A#” chip is the most “advanced smartphone processor”, say that it is the most advanced iPhone chip/ processor.

The goal is to avoid being forgettable; the goal is to make an impression. This is why controversial people are more memorable; they are not boring, and they make a strong impression, whether good or bad. Typically bad.

Also, I think we tend to remember that bad more than the good. Therefore, if you strive to make the maximum memorable impression, ironically enough, making the strongest bad impression is good.

Therefore, perhaps rather than trying to teach people how to make a good impression, we should strive instead, to teach people how to make the maximum bad impression.

Or another words, better to be a Donald Trump than a Joe Biden.

The ultimate scalable thing you can do is this; share and publish interesting thoughts. This is the prime mover.

A thought: we love the matte black aesthetic for cars, and also the more new steel gray matte black color for cars. Also the nail polish cement look. also aesthetically, we love the flush doorhandles. Also turbo, AMG, etc.

How can we transfer this concept to human clothing?

Some thoughts:

When you purchase clothes, maybe it is a good idea to purchase clothing which has a matte black finish.

Also, when you see a certain color palette on a car, maybe it is a better idea to just purchase clothing with the same color scheme.

Also, when you look at the proportions or an attitude of a car, perhaps the best strategy is rather than fighting over the car itself, the goal is to become the ethos of the car. For example, becoming loud, mean, aggressive, low to the ground, muscular and strong.

Also, assuming you do not live in Los Angeles gang territory, the all red aesthetic is also a good idea. Both for men and women.

Poor longevity with MacBook and MacBook Pro laptop, iPhone and iPhone Pro— only decent one is iPad Pro, but even that is useless without Wi-Fi.

Currently, the only potential competitor to iPhone is Samsung.

Some ideas for Samsung:

First of all, do not think zero sum. If you want more people to buy Samsung phones, it will just be a supplement to the iPhone. Note, the ideal is that somebody owns both an iPhone pro, and a Samsung phone.

The second idea; do not optimize it for photography. Maybe it should be rather optimize to be a productivity device instead.

Maybe the best life is optimizing your life to maximize your exposure to potential photo opportunities.

Or Jordan sneakers.

Something very interesting here in Korea is that at the gym, there is a private enclosed space just for women. Also, there are lots of women’s only fitness gyms here.

The lifeblood of a photographer.

Currently globally, America is number one for design. Consider that the best design comes now from Korean Americans, for Hyundai, Genesis and Kia. Also Apple. And Tesla.

For clothing brands, alo.com as a good Lululemon competitor. Also, outlier.nyc

When shit gets critical, the most important device is actually a laptop — not an iPad or iPhone (supplemental).

See on YouTube

If Koreans want a brighter future, they should actually immigrate to America, if they have the option.

My thought is that the future for Korea is very grim.

Also note how Samsung is working with America to build a massive semiconductor plant in the states. The theory is this is an opportunity to build more military enabled chips for the states.

Also, it looks like the big export for Korea is Samsung, Kia, Hyundai, and LG products to the states.

Also apparently American consumers get a lot of tax breaks for electric Hyundai and Kia vehicles, whereas local Koreans do not. A very bad sign.

Parents still send their kids to English speaking school

Also, a huge focus for Koreans is to ensure that their kids are fluent in English. Isn’t it just easier to send them to the states?

Who are major shareholders in Kakao talk?

Kakao talk, which is essentially the super app here in Korea, I believe has gotten a foreign investment from the Chinese company Tencent a while ago. Note, if you own the communication platform, you own the people.

A funny observation; in terms of pop culture, here on the ground, BTS is far more popular than BLACKPINK. Why is this?

Perhaps my thought is that the new aesthetic is actually more about men who look feminine, rather than women.

Abroad, the appeal of Blackpink is that they are a group that looks girly, but can perform in a more aggressive in masculine way. For example, Jennie and Lisa being good at rapping. Also, BLACKPINK is a lot more international, as a lot of their lyrics are actually in English.

BTS as mostly Korean.

Korea used to be very very traditional and conservative when it came to looking too sexy in public, but now, it looks like women who wear leggings and tights is kind of normalized.

Therefore, Lululemon should open up more stores in South Korea, if they want to capture this market.

I promise, I’m so self-conscious

How to overcome this? Just think to yourself;

You is what you is.

Or, “I am what I am.”

Problems in Korea

First, way too many old people. It looks like 80% of people I see are over the age of 70.

Also, lack of kids. It looks like the average family has either one kid or zero kids. And kind of like of America, a lot of young married couples or middle-age couples up to not have any children, only a dog. Therefore, a huge proliferation of boutique dog stores. And pet hospitals.

It looks like in Korea, the greatest luxury is still beef.

Things I am very impressed by

The new Lotte shopping malls and grocery stores are insanely nice. Koreans make very very good shopping malls, and centers. For example we just visited a new Lotte mall the other day, and it was at least 1 billion times better than any mall I have experienced in Japan, America, etc.

Korea is doing a very very good job with the subway system. Very great integration with the new Subway lines, digging ever deeper underground. And even the Korean city suburbs, like Migeum, are very very well developed.

Also, a very good thing with Korea is the reverence towards the elderly. For example, people either over the age of 65 or 70 could ride the subway for free. Even my mom was able to ride the subway for free the other day.

Coffee culture

Also, a new trend in Korea is coffee. Coffee could either be two things; you there pay six dollars and babysit one coffee and talk with your friends for three hours, or you could grab a Takeaway coffee for two bucks, if you’re busy and on the go.

Also, it seems that you’re the integration with LCD screen ordering screens are very good.

Korea does not look like K-pop

The funny thing is that when you watch BLACKPINK, BTS, K-pop, Korean dramas etc., the reality of Korea is very different from what you see on the screen.

First of all, it seems that the hype over plastic surgery is a little bit overblown. Most people seem to have natural faces.

In terms of physique, it looks like most people look very very soft. Most people are kind of skinny fat, and there is not really yet a gym culture here in Korea.

Korea is very very good for photography, and street photography

In the short two days that have been here, I have been incredibly prolific with my photos. It is insanely great for street photography, walking around, and exploring.

How does South Korea or Seoul compared to Japan? Koreans are much more warm and friendly, and seem much happier. Also, Korea is far more bilingual in English. Also currently the upside of Korea is that getting in here is relatively easy, but to my understanding Japan still has lots of restrictions when it comes to tourism.

Korean aspirations?

What is the Korean dream? It involves buying a house or some sort of nice apartment clothing and shopping culture, and getting a nice car.

I no longer believe it is an aspiration for people to have kids. People either have kids out of some sort of filial duty, for people to please their parents and produce at least one grandchild, but for the most part, it seems that people are more interested in fashion and food.

The future?

What will be the future for Korea and South Korea?

Let us consider this big problem: once all of the old people die, there will be a huge population vacuum. Korea is not as bad as Japan, but still, there will be very very few kids and young people.

Then, what will happen to all of these empty apartment complexes? Also, will there be an impetus to build new apartment complexes?

Also in the future society with very few people or young people, where will all the consumers be?

My thought is that in order for Korea to fight this problem, they probably need to import in more foreign labor, and foreign people. They should allow in more South east Asians, Cambodians, people from Thailand, Vietnam, etc.

Koreans are really really good at English now

It seems that “kongliah“, the combination of English and Korean is now well integrated. I could just say lots of common words or phrases in English, and people understand.

Why the new iPhone Pro is not interesting to me:

The hilarity is that actually, the iPhone Pro is actually not for professionals. Rather, for the average person who just wants to make really good photos.

I already have my Ricoh GR 3X, which is insanely good. Even if I had an iPhone 20 Pro, I am certain that the image rendition of any iPhone would never be as good as a Ricoh GR digital camera, in terms of shooting black-and-white, and making artistic and creative photos.

Therefore, from a marketing perspective, the iPhone pro should not strive to target professionals. Rather, the average person.

Then the question is this; what should real professionals care for?

An idea: make an iPhone Titan, which will cost at least $1999 USD. Make it out of titanium. Make it insanely light and thin, and make it very very exclusive. It will become the new Rolex for the average Silicon Valley tech person.

Being Korean American, this is what I have observed; why are there so few interesting innovators and entrepreneurs from Korea?

My thought is that Korean society is all about conformity.