Reason of Apple’s Success

The Success Of apple Above And beyond Its Technology Over the weekend I was in an apple inject in northern New Jersey. It made me real uncomfortable. See, Im a PC guy. A staunch Windows aimr, from Windows 3. 1 to 95 to 98 to NT to XP to Vista (ouch) to the current Windows 7 (did I miss either? ). How forever, Im dabbling in the dark side, development an iPad (in addition to opposite devices ofttimes(prenominal) as a BlackBerry Playbook and a few android ph superstars). On a recent trip I broke the glass of my iPad. because my trip to the apple transshipment center.As I was waiting for some(prenominal) whiz from technical swan (c totallyed the apple Genius bar) to suffice me, I observed orc impregnable apple tree up close and personal. Here ar a couple of things I disc bothplace that cook, no doubt, played key roles in orc sturdy apple trees victory. gifted lag = happy guests The whole staff was excited and happy to assistant customers. I observed one you ng peeress in particular, an apple staff member, who continually and genuinely smiled as she helped customers. She warmly greeted one customer after another and helped them work through their problems with a spark of excitement.Another lady adorned in volumed earrings and macroscopic glasses reminded me of a concierge at a high-end New York hotel. Friendly, professional and excited to help. In another incident, a customer came in and had a question ab come out of the closet using her produce in another substantivem. I overheard an apple manager suggest to a staff member that he call someone in the country to which the customer was headed, to sterilise the do she demand How umteen sellers would take the clipping to gather a shout out call (to another country ) to help out a customer on the retail floor? A chaotically smooth in-store processOver the course of my life, Ive had the privilege of being virtually several U. S. Presidents. For obvious primer coats, in tha t respect is al paths a lot of commotion, action and security around the President. However, all of this fuss is c atomic number 18 to the full choreographed by the U. S. private Service, the W forme House advance team and others. To an outsider it might matter homogeneous confusion, barg however as you look closer you see theres a very detailed plan of action in place. This is how it was in the apple store. Their were dozens of customers milling around, all with different needs. in that respect were customers with pre-scheduled ap head teacherments at the Genius bar, walk-ins in need of technical support, those just now making retail purchases and people seek out unsanded intersection pointsand anyone saw immediate tutelage from passionate and very k out adjustledgeable staff members. What was in addition interesting was that all of the sales staff on the floor had the ability to process im roame card sales with their iPhones, an innovation that is not seen at clos ely retailers. kinda of standing in line for the cashier, the cashier comes to you and processes your transaction on the grapple pretty neat (and efficient).Also Case Study exit guide why orchard apple tree Inc. is a very successful attach to.So what happened with my cracked iPad? Since the iPad was relatively new, the orchard apple tree representative said he would make an exception and gave me a new one. The entire process same(p)wisek close to 10 minutes. I was fully expecting to pay $200 to achieve it obstinate. So I was pleasantly surprised. Clearly, orchard apple trees crossings ar well fill sexing, easy to use and fun. However, the products argon still one part of apples success. The other part is the hush up of doing note (that is, making the purchase and receiving support) that orchard apple tree delivers so harmoniously to its customers Reasons apple Is So Successful One of the more(prenominal) interesting questions I get asked or so as an industry analyst whos followed orchard apple tree since 1981 is why Apple is so successful. Its an honest question because to those unfamiliar with Apple, the high societys rise and current dominance in non-PC devices is somewhat puzzling. well-nigh people bemuse a working understanding of the concomitant that Apple lost the PC wars to Microsoft, and plainly nominally understand that when Apple hitd the iPod and consequently the iPhone, the company started to go in a new direction.And anyone whos asleep(p) into an Apple store knows full well that Apples customer service and stores represent the gold standard for selling and supporting tech gadgets. hardly beyond that, the reasons why Apple is in cosmos successful ar still a mystery to some(prenominal). (MORE 50 Best iPhone Apps 2012) thither ar plenty of books about Apple that talk about boththing from Steve Jobs history to tenets of Apples business models to unknowns about Apples internal-management ideas.However, after e ld of watching Apple up close and personal and having to deal with every one of their CEOs, as well as interacting with mingled Apple execs over the years, I would deal to suggest that the reasons the company is successful alonet joint be boiled down to six key principles that make it very hard for competitors to compete with Apple. 1. For any product that Apple creates, the people who create it seduce to want it themselves So many successions with projects I do with other tech companies, the goal is almost always based around the engineering science origin, followed by whether or not people truly want to use it.Geeky engineers are dazzled by the applied science at their disposal and very much create something because they passel. entirely Apples approach is quite different. The engineers who are creating Apple products actually make them for themselves. And Jobs was the chief user of Apple products when he was alive. All of Apples products are based on the fact that J obs represented the real customer. And his engineers had to come to grips with that when designing a product. It has to be something that they in person couldnt live without. 2. The products have to be easy to useJobs was a stickler on this point. While industrial design is a searing component of any product Apple makes, if it is not easy to use, it is considered worth slight to the consumer. This is what drove the companys user-interface designs from Day 1 and is still the mantra pushed to the software and hardware engineers every day they go to work. All of the products they create have to be self-generated and easy to understand and delay. As engine live has become more composite and users want more features, the task of keeping things divisionary is some snips difficult.And Apple creates tools for power users and rookies, which corporation mean a broad range of peace of mind-of-use issues. But withal with that, Apple is the only company I deal with where ease of use i s more important than the product itself. Apple makes this a critical goal of its approach to creating anything for the market. (PHOTOS The Apple II Turns 35) 3. Keep things unbiased I was in Paris in the past two weeks and had talks with various French telecommunications officials about many mobile-computing issues. But one conversation I had in particular emphasizes this keep-it- primary point.We were discussing how to compete with Apple a major by-line for all Apple competitors and pall allowers these days when the question of why Apple is really successful came up. And one exec nailed it when he said he felt that the real reason Apple is successful is because it has one product in this miscue the iPhone. It minimizes the decisionmaking process for the consumer by making things undecomposable. The person speaking was with a carrier in France, and he said that in their stores, they have to have as many as 25 different models of phones available.That makes it hard for his s taff to be really knowledgeable about all of them all of the time, and their customers just have too many options to choose from. But Apple only has one iPhone model, and anyone who has kaput(p) into an Apple store understands that every staff member there knows a great deal about each of the four major products carried in its stores. Apple doesnt have five iPhone models to choose from it has only one. While this may reckon limiting given the amount of suffer phones available to users, the truth is the reverse.Our company has done consumer enquiry for over 30 years, and consumers constantly give out us that while choice is nice, in reality they want the process of choosing a tech product to be simple and not complicated by a plethora of choices. Yes, there are tech-savvy people who like more choices and sometimes even like complexity, still from years of experience as a market researcher, I stack tell you that in the end, the majority of users are not tech-savvy, and keeping t hings simple for them is a plus. Apple understands this in spades and is never tempted to add multiple versions of an iPhone, iPad or even more than one or two types of iPods.This makes demoralise an Apple product simple. And consumers seem to appreciate this considering the huge number of iDevices that are exchange each year. I know the tech media and techies are the most song about this issue of choice, merely in the end, while choice is respectable for competitive pricing, what nontechie consumers really want is simplicity. (MORE The Inventor Of the Future) 4. Offer great customer service and in-store experiences Jobs understood one of the major conundrums of technology even if you create products that are easy to use, the variety of things that people want to use technology for often creates complexity.Because of this, consumers at all levels may need some make it attribute from time to time. I was one of the most vocal critics of Apple when it introduced its source ret ail store in Tokyo in 2002. I thought it was crazy for Apple to try and go into retail. At the time, and even today, tech retail stores are in decline while big-box stores like Costco and Walmart sell products on expense and nothing else. I thought that if price were the issue, an upscale retail store would be DOA. Wow, were other naysayers and I misuse about Apples retail strategy. Apple uses this conundrum to its advantage.Because it keeps product SKUs simple, the salespeople at heart the stores know the products really well. nary(prenominal)ice that when you go into an Apple store and are greeted by one of the sales staff, youre not asked, How merchantman I help you? Instead they ask, What would you like to do today? They go right to the heart of any technology users question, a question thats always related to what they want to do with the technology the user is interested in. And once you explain your needs, they take care of it on the spot in most cases. Or if you need more move over holding, they turn you over to the Apple Geniuses.No wonder 50% of people buying Apple products are new to Apple. Apples products are simple to understand and use, alone if you do have a problem, Apple discount take care of it at their stores or over the phone quickly. (PHOTOS Apple Announces New iPad) 5. Apple only makes a product if Apple can do it better Apple normally doesnt invent a new product or product category. Sure, the company did invent the first commercial PC with the Apple II, and the Mac improved on PCs with a graphical user interface and mouse input. But since then, all of Apples other products have been recreations of existing products.Apple did not invent the MP3 imposter Apple reinvented it and made it better. Apple did not invent the intellectual phone Apple reinvented it and made it better. And Apple did not invent the tablet Apple reinvented it and made it better. As Apple designer Jonathan Ive said recently, Our goals are very simple to de sign and make better products. If we cant make something that is better, we wont do it. Clearly, Apple applied that thinking first to iPods, then promising phones and more recently, to the iPad. 6. Apple stays at least(prenominal) two years ahead of its competitors This is the one that scares Apples competitors the most.While those competing with Apple are just getting products to market that are competitive, Apple is already working on the products at least two years out. For example, the new iPhone that will most likely go to market in October was designed and signed off on two years ago. And the iPhone the company is working on now is for the fall of 2014. The analogous goes for the iPad. The new iPad that we will most likely see next March was signed off on two years ago. The one thats being worked on now we will probably see in 2015. This is a nightmare for Apples competitors and will continue to be for some time. (MORE What Would Steve Jobs Do? as well having geniuses in design, software and retail, Apple also has the cash to invent components, manufacturing processes and things like that, which almost makes it impossible for the competition to make any real promontory against Apple. And dont let the fact that Android has become the No. 1 modishness-phone operating system make you think that its the big winner. Yes, Android has gained ground by the sheer numbers of companies and products pushing Android. But the real measure of success is in the profits, and Apple is making as much as 70% of all the profits in smart phones and about 85% of the profits in tablets.Just ask any Android competitor which they would like more, market share or profits. Youll get the answer relating to the real measure of success in this market. These six principles may seem a bit simplistic given the fact that Apple also has great software, industrial design and a powerful ecosystem of content, apps and services as part of the companys success equation. However, I can te ll you that from my three decades of following Apple, its these six key principles that are what really makes it successful.And as long as it adheres to them, its pretty likely that Apple will continue to grow and command a relatively macro share of the market in the companys product categories where it competes. Bajarin is the president of Creative Strategies Inc. , a technology-industry-analysis and market-intelligence firm in Silicon Valley The secret of Apples success simplicity Apples success beginn by the vision of Steve Jobs has been to pull up its ideas to their essence. By contrast, too many companies are overly complicated pic Steve Jobs speaks during an Apple special event in 2010 in Cupertino, California.Photograph Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Apples package-design team had just returned from its demo to Steve Jobs, and the faces told the story they had that things didnt go exactly as we planned look. The suspense is cleansing me, I said to the project leader. H owd it go this morning? Well, he said, Steve hit us with the sincere Stick. Translation Jobs had rejected their work not because it was lamentable but because, in some way, it failed to distil the idea to its essence. The person leading(a) the project had directed the team to create packaging for two versions of the alike(p) product.Jobs had decided this was brain-dead. Just combine them, he said. One product, one box. There was no need to explore the idea of a second package. He was right. It was simpler, quicker, better. The conversation was over in minutes, and it left one very smart and talented assort of people wondering why they hadnt thought of that before. The Simple Stick symbolises a core value within Apple. Sometimes its held up as inspiration other times its wielded like a cavemans club a deep, almost religious belief in the power of simplicity. If youre nimble to do battle with complexity, youll have no trouble visualizeing a fight.Chances are youre surround ed by it. Unless you work in the rarest of environments, complexity lives deep down your organisations hierarchy, its goals, and probably most of your colleagues as well. If your company ever fails, you can be sure it wont be the fault of simplicity it will be the aftermath of its absence. Think brutal Clarity propels an organisation. Not occasional clarity but pervasive, 24-hour, in-your-face, take-no-prisoners clarity. closely people never perceive that this is lacking in their organisation, but 90% of the time it is. Just open a few random emails, activate your brutal-vision, and read.The muddying messages are rampant. If people were brutally honest in their emails, the time we spend sorting through our in-boxes would sure as shooting decrease by half. Steve Jobs demanded frank communication from others as much as he dished it out himself. Hed cut you off if you rambled. He ran his business as if there were unprecedented little time to waste, which well reflected the realit y for Apple as surely it does for any company upright about competing. This is probably the one element of simple mindedness thats easiest to institute. Just be honest and never hold back.Demand the same from those you work with. Youll make some people squirm, but everyone will know where they stand 100% of your groups time will be focuse on forward progress no need to decode what people are really state. There is a general perception that Jobs was the nasty despot who demanded allegiance, barked commands, and instilled the fear of God in those around him. While Jobs certainly did butt on these behaviours, this portrait is incomplete. The man could also be funny, warm, and even charming. There is a huge difference between being brutally honest and simply being brutal.You cant let yourself be talked into going along with something when you know it can be better. Ever. To settle for second trounce is a violation of the rules of simplicity, and it plants the seeds for disappoin tment, special(a) work, and more meetings. Most disturbing, it puts you in the worst possible business put having to defend an idea you never believed in. Your challenge is to become unbending when it comes to enforcing your standards. unmercifully so. If you submit only the work you believe in 100% and clear only the work you believe in 100%, you own something that no one can take away from you integrity.As often happens in life, one must often suffer the consequences of doubting before becoming a believer. Im not proud of it, but thats the way I versed my lesson about standards. There was a certain amount of theatre that went on inside Apple. The rules were well known, and a number of dramas played out with predictability. That Jobs was intolerant of imbecility is a matter of record. He wasnt at all polite when fatuity reared its ugly head. He especially wasnt fond of employing stupidity, so if you were on Apples staff and wanted to retain that status, it was wise not to dis play your lack of smarts in a meeting with him.Youd just set him off and get it right between the eyes. A former Apple senior staffer remembers a routine that he saw played out often during his time as a direct report to Jobs. He calls it the rotating turret. There was no predicting when it would happen, as it depended on how conversations evolved. But in some meeting, at some random time, some poor soul in the room would say something that everyone in the room could tell was going to light Jobss fuse. scratch line came the uncomfortable pause.The offending comment would reverberate in the air, and it would seem as if the entire world went into slow motion as Jobss internal sensors fixed on the origin of the sound wave. You could almost hear the meshing of gears as his turret lento turned toward the guilty party. Everyone knew what was comingbut was impotent to stop it. Finally, the turret would lock on to its target. In a furcate second Jobs would activate his firing mechanism, and without a second thought hed demean all his ammunition. It was uncomfortable to watch and even more uncomfortable to experience, but at Apple it was just a fact of life.Think small How many overpopulated meetings do you sit through in a year? How many of those meetings get sidetracked or lose focus in a way that would never occur if the group were half the size? The small group rule requires enforcement, but its worth the cost. Out in the real world, when I talk about small groups of smart people, I rarely get any pushback. Thats because honey oil sense tells us its the right way to go. Most people know from experience that the fastest way to lose focus, be adrift valuable time, and water down great ideas is to entrust them to a bigger group.Just as we know that there is equal danger in putt ideas at the mercy of a large group of approvers. One reason why large, unwieldy groups tend to be created in many companies is that the farming of a company is bigger than any one pers on. Its hard to change the way we do things here. This is where the zealots of simplicity need to step in and overcome the inertia. One must be judicious and realistic about applying the small-group principle. Simply making groups smaller will obviously not assoil all problems, and small is a relative term.Only you know your business and the spirit of your projects, so only you can draw the line between too few people and too many. You need to be the enforcer and be prepared to hit the process with the Simple Stick when the group is menace with un undeniable expansion. In one iconic technology company with which I worked I found a framed sign in every conference room designed to nudge the employees toward greater productivity. The headline on the sign was how to have a successful meeting. The content read like it came right out of a corporate manual, which it likely did.It featured a bullet-pointed list of things like State the agenda at the start of your meeting, supercharge pa rticipation by all attendees, and Conclude your meeting with agreement on next steps. What these signs really said, though, was Welcome to a very big company Just follow these signs and youll fit in well. Its not hard to imagine Jobs, who actively fought big-company behaviour, gleefully ripping these signs off the wall and renew them with Ansel Adams prints that might provide a moment of reflection or inspiration. If you ever work at Apple there will be no signs on the wall telling you how to run a meeting.Likewise, there will be no signs telling you how to tie your shoes or acquire a glass of water. The assumption is that you are well equipped with brains and common sense and that youre a fully functioning adult. If youre not already a disciple of simplicity, youll become one soon. Either that, or youll decide youd preferably not be part of such a thing, which is okay too. Simplicity prefers not having to train a bucking bronco. If big companies really feel compelled to put som ething on their walls, a better sign might read How to pass on a Great Meeting 1. Throw out the least indispensable person at the table. . Walk out of this meeting if it lasts more than 30 minutes. 3. Do something productive today to make up for the time you spent here. Think clarity This is an area where just about every business needs more work. Words are powerful, but more lecture are not more powerful theyre often just confusing. actualize that in your companys internal business and in communications with your customers, dissertations tend to drive people away. Though many writers never seem to grasp the point, using intelligent intelligence agencys does not necessarily make you appear smarter.The best way to make yourself or your company look smart is to communicate an idea simply and with perfect clarity. No matter who your audience is, its more effective to communicate as people do inbredly. In simple sentences. Using simple words. Simplicity is its own form of cleve rness saying a great deal by saying little. Think kind-hearted Unless youre in the business of sterilising things, business is no place to be sterile. agree the boldness to look beyond numbers and spreadsheets and allow your heart to have a say in the matter. Bear in mind that the intangibles are every bit as real as the metrics are often even more important.The simplest and most effective way to fall in with piece beings is to speak with a human voice. It may be necessary in your business to market to specific target groups, but bear in mind that every target is a human being, and human beings respond to simplicity. Best advice Just be true to your species. This is an edited chicken out from Insanely Simple The Obsession That Drives Apples Success by Ken Segall (Portfolio Penguin, ? 14. 99) or at Guardian Bookshop for ? 11. 99 Doing business the Steve Jobs way Its natural for people to be resistant to change, large or small, so trying to change attitudes within an organisati on can be difficult.But when you spread the word about the value of simplicity you are not spreading some oddball theory, youre echoing one of the most successful people in business history, Steve Jobs (right). If you refer to the benefits Apple has enjoyed by embracing simplicity, and make the prehend parallels to your own business, youll build a compelling case. You can spread the godliness of simplicity project by project, by interacting with people and groups one at a time. Getting people to buy into a concept to the point where they start contributing their own ideas can literally create a movement within an organisation.Simplicity is a way of looking at every part of your job, the jobs of those around you, and the way your company operates. Once you start see the world through the lens of simplicity youll be astounded at how many opportunities exist to improve the way your business works What are the Keys to Apples Success in Emerging Technologies? by meter Halal picApple did not come by its present success easily. onwards the iPod, iPhone, and iPad became profitable icons of high-tech fashion, Steve Jobs suffered a long series of failures.Apples Pippin indorse player, the Next computing machine, Apple TV, the Lisa computer, the Newton PDA, and the Apple mouse are among the many products that are barely known because they were dismal flops. For many years, there were serious doubts if Apple could survive the battles it was losing to competitors like Microsoft. In contrast, Apple is now pass judgment to sell 30 one thousand thousand iPads in 2011 two-thirds of all tablet computers sell globally. Although the iPhone is fighting off 90 different smart phones, Apples sales are up 60% and could reach 100 million iPhones in 2011.The source of this staying power is seen in the fact that the Apple iPhone has the highest consumer rapture scores ever recorded. Apples profits exceed those of IBM, and it is considered one of the most Innovative and valuabl e companies in the world, Such immobilise success always raises questions over its origins. How did a struggling company run by a charismatic but somewhat erratic CEO learn to excel in the brutal battle among acclivitous technologies? Can the factors of this success be identified and used to guide others? The most striking shoemakers last about Apples rise is that Steve Jobs learned bitter but crucial lessons from failure.After years of autocratic leadership, dismal sales, and temperamental behavior misdirect the company, John Sculley became CEO in 1985 and Jobs was sent into the computing wilderness. For 12 years, he suffered losses such as the Next computer, which was overpriced and sold only 50,000 units in seven years. When Jobs returned to head Apple, he had learned to focus on good design, to treat people well, and to develop winning strategy. Tim Bajarin, president of a consulting firm, said Steve Jobs would not have been successful if he hadnt gone through his wilderness experience. The main lesson from Apples success, however, is the primal immenseness of focusing on strong products that are well-designed for the market. Jobs is a genius at minimalist designs that integrate technology breakthroughs to fill a newly emerging need with unusual style. He thinks success requires listening to the technology in order to discover the potential products waiting to be invented. The result can be seen in the way Jobs describes the attraction of the iPad Its like holding the Internet in your hands, he told a crowd. Its so much more intimate than a laptop and more capable than an iPhone. Its truly magical. This keen sense of anticipating where emerging technologies are leading comprises the central talent that allowed Jobs to create revolutionary breakthroughs like the first personal computer (Apple 1), the first graphical interface (Mac), the first Unix PC (Next), the first renewal to Sonys Walkman (iPod), the first online music store (iTunes), the first widely used smart phone (iPhone), and the first successful tablet (iPad).Serious processes are needed to closely follow advances in technologies that will impact your organization and to find creative new solutions for the market. Thats why Apple does far less conventional product research than other companies, and focuses instead on product discovery. Heres how Jobs described his approach If I had asked someone who only used a calculator what a Mac should be like, they couldnt have told me. Theres no way to do consumer research so I had to go and create it, and then show it to them. hindquarters such great products, Apple thrives because it has been described as a well-oiled machine. Jobs learned to delegate, so his COO, Tim Cook, now runs a tight ship, and a cadre of managers and designers have learned to think like Steve. The company has outsourced its manufacturing operations, while 317 Apple stores are wildly popular and profitable. The Apple music store iTunes has expand ed into a powerful vehicle for trading videos, movies, and possibly other information products.Even with these stunning achievements, Apple faces enormous new challenges as competition among other smart phones and tablets heats up. There are at least 20 versions of Android phones alone, slowly taking Apples market share. In 2011, Americans will buy more Androids than iPhones. The main issue, of course, is what happens when Jobs illness requires a successor? Despite claims that Apple has institutionalized practices that foster creativity, innovation, good design, and other legacies of Steve Jobs, it is really impossible to counterchange true genius. When Jobs returned from the wilderness to save Apple, John Sculley