“Apple isn’t the biggest consumer electronics company, nor the most profitable,” Mike Elgan writes for Computerworld. “So what do I mean when I say it’s the No. 1 consumer electronics company?”
“Basically, you can divide consumer electronics companies into two groups: Apple, and everyone else. Apple really is that different. Its influence on global design is many orders of magnitude higher than its nearest competitors. It engenders customer loyalty significantly greater than that earned by any other company in the consumer electronics space,” Elgan writes.
“It’s no accident, and it’s not a passing phenomenon,” Elgan writes. “Apple knows something that other companies don’t. Here are the eight secrets that make Apple the best company in the industry.”
1: Engineering supports design — no exceptions
2: Fewer is better
3: The experience is the product
4: The product is the product
5: You can’t please everyone, so please people with good taste
6: Leave the past behind
7: Product names are important. Really important
8: Group affiliation is the driver
Elgan writes, “Most surviving consumer electronics companies know and use at least one of these secrets. But Apple is the only major company I can think of that employs all of them. And that’s why Apple is No. 1.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Sean” for the heads up.]
An interesting article, but that last point of Elgan’s just isn’t the whole story, that Apple’s successful because “people want to belong to a group that immediately identifies them as being superior to other people in other groups… [Apple] products get a ‘B’ on features and functionality — they’re almost best in class in most of their respective categories. But they’re an “A+” on what really matters — coolness, which translates into both boosted self-identity and appealing group affiliation.”
There’s probably some of that “appealing group affiliation” stuff out there, but Elgan tries too hard to downplay the quality experience that Apple products often offer to their users. By doing so, he’s also putting down Apple product users and Apple themselves. Elgan also has way too much “Get a Mac” ad campaign on the brain; he comes off as a PC user who takes those ads a bit too personally. Look up “inferiority complex” when you get a chance, Mike.
Note to Elgan: we love Apple because they make superior products. Often vastly superior products. We love Apple because they strive to invent new things and reinvent old things. Because they try to change things for the better. We don’t buy Macs, iPods, and iPhones to gain admission into some group of superior beings; that’s just a side benefit. 
Numbers 3, 5, and 6 say it all for me…the rest all tie in with number 3.
“5: You can’t please everyone, so please people with good taste”
When making statements about ‘Apple should do this or that” remember that Joe Beercan is not Apple’s target market.
There will likely never be a NASCAR themed iPod.
He may have a point with #8.
I mean, how many people put those little white Apple stickers on their cars or elsewhere, advertising that they are an Apple user?
How many people put Dell stickers on their cars?
Things are looking up for Clint Bowyer! For you snobby Mac users he’s the guy who won last Saturday’s NASCAR Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.
I believe he was driving the brown #2 car sponsored by Zune. Nice job, Clint!
“Take of the fact that Elgan was the very same individual who said just a few weeks ago that Apple was the new Microsoft . . . “
Yes, but what you’re missing is that Elgan is writing from a new, glossy iMac in Jobs’ attic with only new iPods to eat. For now.
“Tasty, pretty nano. Good boy.”
“For you snobby Mac users he’s the guy who won last Saturday’s NASCAR . . . “
Shiny car goes zune, zune, zuuuuune.
Things are looking up for Eric Becklin! For you snobby PC users, Eric E. Becklin is an American astrophysicist, best known for his pioneering study of infra-red sources at the center of our galaxy. He was featured on a recent PBS special showing his recent work while using a MacBook Pro. There were quite a few glowing Apple logos in the episode.
Macromancer
“There will likely never be a NASCAR themed iPod.”
Never say never. All it will take is for Steve to get into the NASCAR experience and …. well, you never know.
PS, there are comanies out there that will custom paint your iBook, etc. Just a thougth.
en
If I’m going to group identify for being an Apple user, it’s going to be because of their underdog status, not my superiority complex. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if they made great products and were the market leader. What’s so frustrating and fan inspiring is that for some reason the rest of the world just can’t understand “insanely great.” People rooted for Rocky so avidly, not because they knew he was a better boxer than Apollo, but because he was the underdog. People love a Cinerella story. Apple is the love child of Rocky Balboa and Cinderella. Oh, and they make insanely great products.
Wow, Elgan wrote a complimentary article about Apple. Maybe he’s schizo like Thurrott.
Money quote: “Buying Vista isn’t a thrill, it’s a homework assignment.”
There is one secret — brand name/image is the most important. Every thing else is about keeping your brand name strong.
secret (ˈsēkrit), noun or adjective: not known or seen or not meant to be known or seen by others
So, then you can’t publish a secret by definition, right?
Macromancer says, “There will likely never be a NASCAR themed iPod.”
Well then, that leaves out most Republicans from the iPod experience. 😀
Sorry…. I’m just dying for a whole new five page political thread.
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Disclosure: I’m an Apple Shareholder
I bought my first Apple product in 1984 – the Macintosh – It wasn’t to join an elite club… it was because it was so wildly ahead of the curve, that I wanted a ‘piece of the future’. It had ease of use written all over it.
I have never owned an iPod – my partner and son both do, and they love it. For my partner, it’s the podcasts and the music, and small portable design, and extreme ease of use. For my son, it’s the music, music videos, and video podcasts. And the bling/cool factor.
What Apple appears to do well (but not always) is create a product that consumers didn’t know they needed, but can justify, and use far more easily than imagined. Most consumers don’t have time to fiddle with things – some of course love to tinker, but that’s not the majority. I don’t have time to fuss with things – they have to work, and I need to be able to rationalize my purchases. Apple’s products seem to more easily reach that catalyst stage, where they take off. Big exception was the Newton, which although a great idea, was too big to be practical. Palm scaled down the concept, and the Palm Pilot was able to light the fire of PDA category.
I’m about 75% thru rationalizing an iPod Touch… do I need it? can I live without it? Can I live with it? These are all questions that need to be weighed. Apple’s ability to find the right balance (delicate though it may be) has born fruit <grin> in many things. They have often lived by the Mac Way, of over deliver and under promise. It’s not always black and white, but that’s an important consideration for any good consumer company.
Hopefully my ramble made some sense to someone… my original post was lost in the submit/error here on MDN!
– spaceMan –
@justified – I was just pointing what should have been blatantly obvious to begin with – how DID they miss that? Who knows.
Then again maybe it’s because sometimes MDN would prefer that its readership be just as vigilant as they themselves strive to be on the issues presented on their little corner of the ‘net. Then they can point back to the posts and say, “See – they’re learning!” and feel all smug and self-important. Oops – maybe I went too far on that last one – we’ll see if this post lasts the day…
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Petey said it best, and I can’t believe his point isn’t mentioned more often…Apple uses this stuff themselves! Steve says it all the time but I don’t think people are paying attention, “We make products that we like.”
Can you imagine being at Apple after the ROKR came out but before there was an iPhone in the marketplace? A bunch of millionaire dudes (and one billionaire) with a major corporation (or two) to run trying to communicate with each other all the time on the crap phones that were out then (the same ones that are out now)?
Phil: “Wait a minute, this thing won’t even sync with a Mac without a hassle?”
Tim: “Why do I have to listen to all the OLD messages first just to get to the ONE message I need right now?”
Steve: “I’m not using these buttons right now; why are they there whether I need them there or not?”
Jonny: “All of ’em are cheap looking and plasticky. We could make something better-looking than these in our sleep.”
Steve: “Fellas, we don’t have to put up with this crap. They’re selling a billion of these POS phones every year? Aren’t we in the consumer electronics business? If we solve the problem for OURSELVES we’ll be solving it for a BILLION people a YEAR. Get on it.”
If it didn’t go down exactly like that, I’ll bet it was damn close. The rest is history (in the making).
Peace.
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Olmecmystic
P.S. Why do you think Steve passed out iPhones to everybody working there barely a month after they hit the streets? For p.r.? No, so Apple could FUNCTION better.
This might be off subject, but it seems to me that the more articles that are published by PC magazines that are positive about Apple products, the more critical the Mac magazines are. I am especially growing tired of some of the grousing from the MacWorld crew. Is this some kind of ‘good cop – bad cop’ reversal? Apple gives them the moon and they want the frickin’ Sun. Damn crybabies.