What do Walter White and Steve Jobs have in common?

Hmmm, now that's an intriguing question to ask on a Wednesday.  How can a science teacher turned meth kingpin have anything in common with the Apple guru?

In actuality - quite a bit!  You think about how Apple came on to the computer scene in the 70's, how it's design techniques and customer-driven laser focus created several industries, and then apply that to the drug business, and well you have synergies that can be applied to basic branding principles.

1. Market recognition:  Steve Jobs saw the future of personal computing very early, and recognized the vastness of the emerging market.  Jobs also was able to hone in on what the end user wanted, and simplified it so that it applied to everyday life - i.e. creating the MacIntosh desktop graphical interfaces that, well mimic someone's desktop.  Very simple, yet applicable to everybody's life!  Walter White saw that Methamphetamine was rapidly becoming huge, and took his expertise in chemistry to a new level by developing a better product which his market truly wanted.
2. Product Integrity:  Walter's formula in the show is a 99% pure product - well above anything in the marketplace, and its distinctive blue coloring made it easily identifiable.  To the consumer, it was a mark of drug excellence and created a huge demand for the Blue.  Jobs created a closed product, so that anyone who wanted to create an application or software had to utilize Apple's parameters, thereby ensuring that any software or hardware component worked seamlessly with Apple products.
3. Distinctive Design:  From the branding to the packaging, everything that Apple creates has a distinctively clean and intuitive design.  The iPod/iPad/iPhone have limited product directions as earch are easily implemented - kids can operate them without any real instructions.  Walter White's Blue meth is completely different than anything in the fictitious marketplace, and it's brand name of Heisenberg appeals to the end user, and strikes fear into the competition.
4. Market Dominance:  Apple has revolutionized 4 industries, and in each has been an industry leader, leaving competitors, particularly in the cellphone industry lagging behind.  Walter White's ruthless attention to his marketplace has placed his product as the standard, and his competition has not been able to copy and/or destroy it's way back.

Yes, we're talking fiction vs. reality, but these four principles can be put in to your own branding culture.