“A steady stream of revolutionary products. Swarms of devoted fans. Advertising that laughs at the competition,” Chris Morrison writes for BNET. “How does Apple do it?”
“Apple has plenty of mystique, but what looks like magic is something a lot more calculated. What works for Apple can be distilled into principles of sound management that could (in the right culture) flourish elsewhere too. The company recognizes its most valuable employees and coddles them. (Shouldn’t yours?) In the realm of product creation, it gives design an equal seat at the table with engineering (no magic there), and assures its products that distinctive look by insisting that all designers work from the same minimalist playbook. (No reason you couldn’t do something similar.) To be sure, Apple is one of the world’s best at leading its customers rather than following them,” Morrison writes. “But it has no patent on the process.”
Morrison writes, “We’ve pored through Apple’s storied history, took the measure of its successes and its failures, and with the help of experts who’ve followed the company for years, parsed the Apple mystique into a handful of how-tos and a few reliable principles that you can use in leading your own team. Will these axioms turn you into Steve Jobs overnight? No. Will they help you use the example of one of the world’s most inspired companies to add some inspiration to your next project?”
The Science Behind Apple’s Magic:
• How to Innovate Like Apple
• Four Principles of Apple’s Successes (and Failures)
• Insanely Great Marketing
• The Apples of Other Industries
Readers also are asked to vote in an online poll that asks, “What is Apple’s Achilles Heel?”
Full article here.
“What is Apple’s Achilles Heel?” That would be the delays due to the many government regulations and other related industries barriers that create the delays between new products and services releases. At this point, Apple could be pushing into new markets every quarter or half year. They just have to repackage the existing technologies.
“many government regulations and other related industries barriers that create the delays between new products and services release”
You better be thankful we have government regulations so you can be reasonably confident that you’re not buying products that will harm you.
“You better be thankful we have government regulations so you can be reasonably confident that you’re not buying products that will harm you.”
The ‘government’ can’t regulate people out of their own stupidity.
Most companies want to make products people enjoy using. If they are harmed by them, people won’t use them, they’ll tell their friends and acquaintances not to use them, and the company will either makes it right or they’ll go out of business. Problem solved.
Apple’s Achilles’ heel? The marketing strategy for their computer line.
I’d say their insane profit margin and high prices, but it works for a niche computer company.
Hello, Rob? Ever heard of or seen the UL label?
http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=192631&t=01000860093551905860
Their Achilles heel: Laws of Physics.
fandango: It would be nice if that were always true, but incompetent, greedy, and lazy people run companies just like they can be found in governments, and the damage they do can be enormous or even deadly. Eat any packaged peanut butter crackers lately?
The Friedmanesque view of free-market capitalism has been proven to be hazardous many times, and government and the press have to serve as the other two parties that balance it, just like the three parts of our federal government.
Doosh! Let’s let companies use lead paint. Regulation sucks. And phuk the government highways. I’ll buy my own damn road if I need to get somewhere. And the military which is run by the govt is pretty worthless too. I gots me a gun to protect myself. Give it a break on slamming the govt. You bushwhackers.
The problem with Apple is, they have so many followers, not everyone knows the source of innovation was Apple to begin with.
Government does not keep people safe from “dangerous” products, nor will it.
Companies that thrive and want to succeed with great products, and have hefty competition, that will keep you safer than any Politician with an agenda from lobbyists any day of the week.
“Government is not a solution to our problem, Government is the problem.”
@ Yo Rob
“Government does not keep people safe from “dangerous” products, nor will it.”
Wow. It’s difficult to imagine a more ignorant statement. Unfortunately this comment box is too small for me to school you in U.S. history and government. Please enroll in a remedial course at your local community college so you can become semi-educated before commenting again.
“Most companies want to make products people enjoy using. If they are harmed by them, people won’t use them, they’ll tell their friends and acquaintances not to use them, and the company will either makes it right or they’ll go out of business. Problem solved.”
Let’s apply your logic to airplanes. Let’s pretend there were no federal requirements for airline safety. Now assume Delta Airlines was losing market share to Southwest, and they had to find a way to cut costs so they could better compete. Let’s say they decided to reduce their plane maintenance, which succeeded in making Delta profitable, but it also made their planes unsafe to fly.
Now let’s assume your wife and children fly Delta Airlines one day, unaware that the safety of their plane has been compromised in order to raise profits. The plane crashes, a result of a malfunction that could have been prevented had normal maintenance been performed.
In the aftermath of the crash, the market punishes Delta for their poor decision making and they go out of business. Thus, free market capitalism worked to perfection, with no government intervention necessary.
Your wife and children are still dead.
Apple’s Achilles Heel is arrogance. It’s hard to be the best without becoming full of yourself. It doesn’t make Apple any less brilliant, but it certainly does make them a pain in the ass sometimes.
“You better be thankful we have government regulations so you can be reasonably confident that you’re not buying products that will harm you.” —fandango
Say what? While I agree in principle, the fact is that our government “regulators” are the sorriest bunch of ass-kissing losers on God’s green earth. They wouldn’t know a “regulation” if it smacked them in the face unless there was some kind of payoff attached to it.
Achille’s Heel? The envy and enmity of its competition and general haters.
@Rob,
bad analogy Rob. Ever hear of a company called ValuJet? (Now AirTran)
ValuJet basically did everything you imagined Delta doing in your scenario, and they did crash the plan killing hundreds.
Government regulations and all – those people are still dead. I wouldn’t count on the government to do much for the avg. person, unless a politician can identify some sort of benefit for themselves.
I think its a Jefferson quote and I’m probably paraphrasing: “Every time congress meets we lose a little of our liberty”. Don’t know that I’ve heard a truer statement.
“What is Apple’s Achilles Heel?
I don’t think they have one at the moment!
@Ed
Hello?? Cases like ValuJet are the exact reason we need regulations, and we need them enforced effectively. ValuJet directly violated FAA regulations by putting hazardous materials in the cargo hold, which caused the crash. What they did was illegal. The problem was that the FAA didn’t do their jobs to catch them. That’s why in the aftermath, there was a shakeup at the FAA which created new rules and redefined their top priority to be on regulating safety.
http://www.cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/US/9606/18/faa.valujet/
So yes, the people are still dead. But because of that, we now have a stronger and more effective FAA, which means we’re less much likely to see that kind of crash happen again. This is exactly how regulations come about: something bad happens because of reckless private industry, people die, and the government does its job to step in and protect its citizens to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Next time try to do some thinking before you spout off about how “government doesn’t do much for the avg. person.”
I laugh at the ‘government is the problem’ people.
No, I actually laugh at them to their face when I meet them.
The car you drive, the roads you drive it on, the food you eat and the medicine you confidently give your children are all regulated by your government.
Imperfect? Flawed? Absolutely!
So be my guest. Go around the world and find a country with a perfect government.
Start in France…
not that wikipedia is the best source either, but here is a counterpoint
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Atlanta field office sent a memo on February 14, 1996, to Washington, D.C., stating that “consideration should be given to the immediate FAR-121 rectification of this airline”–in other words, the FAA wanted ValuJet grounded. ValuJet planes made fifteen emergency landings in 1994, fifty-seven in 1995, and fifty-seven from January through May 1996. In February the FAA ordered ValuJet to seek approval before adding any new aircraft or cities to its network, something the industry had not seen since deregulation in 1979. This attempt at removing ValuJet’s certification was “lost in the maze at FAA” according to NTSB Chairman Jim Hall. [3]
Of course, I can see that you are unable to have a civilized debate, so you are likely not to consider any data that is not already corresponding to your world view. maybe one day you will mature, although it’s not a certainty
@Handsome Smitty
“Apple’s Achilles’ heel? The marketing strategy for their computer line.
I’d say their insane profit margin and high prices, but it works for a niche computer company.”
I see, market share is everything – screw profits.
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@Ed
“so you are likely not to consider any data that is not already corresponding to your world view”
What data did you present that doesn’t correspond to my “world view?” My claim is that government regulation is necessary, critical, and enormously helpful to the average citizen. Your claim is that government doesn’t “do much” for the average person. The data you’ve presented only backs up my claim.
There are two parts to effective regulation: the setting of rules, and the enforcing of them. In the ValuJet case, it’s clear that the proper rules were in place, as evidenced by the fact that the FAA ordered the fleet grounded due to sub-standard safety measures. It’s also clear that the ability for the FAA to enforce these regulations was inadequate. This part of the regulatory process failed. The result was a horrific crash. Afterwards, the government realized that the FAA was not able to properly enforce their regulations, so they made changes. Now we have a stronger FAA that can better ensure compliance to security regulations. Thus we have safer air travel now than we did in 1996.
I don’t believe in God, but if I did, I would thank him every day that we have a government that looks out for its citizens. Imagine if ValuJet was allowed to continue operating after that crash with no changes to its safety procedures. Who knows how many more people would have been killed.
I think my “evidence” clearly shows that the government had plenty of opportunity to take an interest in the lives of avg. citizens, namely the customers of ValuJet, and specifically chose not to.
After the crash it became politically expedient to suddenly take an interest in ValuJet.
I think this perfectly makes the two points is was bringing up. 1) don’t count on the government, they don’t care about you. 2) unless it somehow benefits themselves.
I’m personally not against some government regulation, but I believe the government can be more effective than it is now while at the same time being 10-20% of its current size. Most of the people working for us deliver very little value.
“Government is not a solution to our problem, Government is the problem.”
Reagan was wrong about that, and just about everything else. The government is us (of the people, by the people and for the people), once we get special interests and corporations out of the picture. That’s the albatross the repugs have hung around our necks.
The governement should help technologies and tax the billionaires to get the american highways and roads practicable for small non-polluting cars…