I just came across something that just struck me as very true and quite possibly the facts behind the trends we've seen in the past three years. faberNovel, a French consulting firm just published this 48 slide presentation on how it believes Apple has embarked to take over their competition, and how 8 proven steps have brought it here and will allow them to reach just that.
Just think of it,… How does a “close to Chapter 11” limited consumer product company pick itself up and exceed Microsoft’s and Google’s market cap (two companies with a much larger product offering) in just 13 years? Forget about that answer and just think about the last time you saw anything close to the mayhem that was seen on the iPad and iPhone 4 launch days? I’ve simply never seen any product, and I mean “any product” generate such expectation from the world on launch day as Apple products. So how do they do it? Here are those 8 steps and a little of our opinion on why they’re right in our smartphone perspective.
Step 1. Believe in the Simple
Lets face it, a very small percentage of humans are geeks like me and many of you. So if the world is all about computers and if most of your targeted market needs a computer, but hates how complex they are, what’s the easiest way to sell it to them?... Simplify it. Yes Steve, you’re right, the killer app in a phone is making “Phone Calls” and I do agree your iPhone behaves well enough to not mess that basic chore up with a waiting icon. I just wish your chosen carrier wouldn’t drop what you did so well, but anyways..
Step 2. Design a full experience
The problem behind having a phone made by HTC with an operating system made by Microsoft using a screen made by Samsung distributed by a carrier named Verizon is a mess. Do customers really care that the Verizon Droid incredible they bought is not available because Samsung has a shortage in AMOLED screens? It’s not their problem!!!! So, the advantage with having a phone made by Apple, with technology controlled by Apple, working on a carrier that simply wouldn’t dominate the US phone market without Apple, is not having you be affected by anybody not doing their job!! I know, I know,.. This would be a perfect story if the iPhone worked on Verizon, but you get the point. No more carrier rants..
Step 3. Lock customers in
Apple barely makes any money off of iTunes. The real money driver is selling hardware given it’s the only place you can really make a significant premium per product. But just as what made IBM computers sell like pizza when Windows 95 came to town, you need the adequate software to glue customers towards remaining in your ecosystem. Long story short, if you’re good at building a phone and making it the best music player ever, it becomes so much more if people can easily buy music in it also. This is why the iPod simply destroyed their MP3 competitors. Surely my Sansa has the FM Radio and expandable storage I wish I found on my old iPod Touch, but the ability to find the name of a song I just heard on the street through Shazam and the option to be able to buy it in that same moment on the iTunes store for a buck simply makes my Sansa feel pointless.
As ironic as it may seem, Harley Davidson doesn’t have a cult of people loving their bikes because they were cheap. You and I know this is far from the case. A lot of us really do dig being different from the crowd and most of us are willing to pay top dollar for getting tools that do make the tag “best of the best”. Sadly, most Windows Phone’s out there barely work as they’re retailed, so “working well” is currently one of those things people will pay for and Apple has products that do just that. They may pick fights with Adobe, or the other way around, but at least they don’t offer you something they won’t do a good job in giving you. Yes Windows waiting icon, this one’s for you.
Step 5. Cross-sell your product line
It’s incredible to see how the launch of the iPod and iPhone have boosted Mac sales. Why? Well customer loyalty can do wonders for your whole product line. If you do a far superior job in bringing music to a customer, it’s only logical that your computer and phone can be just as superior to the mass market. Next time you shop for a computer, that fruit will begin to come to mind, and once you learn the fruit phone will work better with a Mac than with a PC, you’ll have less things to worry about.
Step 6. Balance control vs. freedom
Apple did a trashy job in partnering with developers with the Mac, but the iPhone paved the road to a new Apple that now balances what you see and what you get for every dollar you spend. From my old days as a Windows Mobile user, I’ll tell you this much: The lack of control in app development for the platform resulted in many very poor apps. I know developers hate what they have to go through to get their apps approved on the AppStore, but from a customer point of view, I don’t mind this as long as the Apple gang has my back in ensuring your product will work as you say it does. It’s that simple. The way things should be if you ask me..
Step 7. Think Different
For the longest time, Apple has thought of their Macs as the digital hub where all should connect to. It turns out everybody else is sticking to the cloud because it makes even more sense as networks begin to grow in bandwith. Apple has been slow on this bandwagon, but many of us feel it’s just a matter of time. Given all their recent purchases, I do feel we’ll soon see a cloud-based Apple that will simply change the way things are done once again. You know, competitors should actually thank Apple for taking so long in this, because if an iPhone 4 did more in a day than what the Nexus One accomplished in months with all its cloud based background, imagine what the iPhone 5 will do!
Step 8. Assess risk and competition
One of the key strategies Steve Jobs did with Apple after he returned in 1997 is kill a ton of projects that were not making money. If Google is such a giant in search, don’t spend the millions Microsoft spent on MSN Search only to have it die to Bing and still not figure it out quite yet. If someone does search better than you do, stay away from it. I do appreciate Apple’s focus on their small line of products. It’s something to enjoy when you see newer and better iPhones roll out every year in comparison to the decade we waited for Windows Mobile to finally get good. I’ll always consider a Windows Phone to do far more than an iPhone can do, but all those added features become pointless if the way they work sucks!! I’d rather you do little, but do it good from the start, and that’s part of the iPhone’s success story. It was really years ahead of anything out there in 2007, and thanks to it, Android totally revamped itself from what Google was intending to give us with their initial build (remember it).
What do you think? The last 13 years have shown us Apple is on the right track or do you consider it to be slow and stale? This seems like one of those really good 10 year business plans most companies build, but not many accomplish with the exception of Apple, but hey, those are my two cents. Here’s a full copy of the presentation if you’re interested:
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