Apple Computers has been an interesting company to watch over the last 30 years or so. While computer companies have come and gone (remember Amiga’s, Atari’s, or even Wang's?), few have actually lasted as long as Apple.
Having been an Apple watcher for many years, I thought maybe I have picked up a few pointers from the company over the years. Here are 10 lessons I have learned from watching Apple, and I think that these can be replicated in anyone’s vocation.
#10: Focus on What Makes You Excellent and Don’t Stray
Back in the 1990s, Apple tried to be all things to all people. There were computer models like the consumer Performa line, the Pro Line, the Classic line (there were even lines within lines: Sears sold a model called a 551, the store next door sold the 550. Same machine, different name), they sold printers, they sold handheld digital assistants called Newtons, digital cameras, printers, they created and tried to sell everything. By the end of the 1990s, the company was financially on the ropes, not in small part due to the fact that consumers were confused by all the choices. New management came in and Apple restructured its line-up to a four-square product line: A consumer desktop and laptop, and a professional laptop and desktop. Everything else was dumped out of the product line: Printers, handhelds, scanners, everything. The company focused back on what made them great. Do a few things and do them well. After a few quarters, the financial hemorrhages had stopped, and the company had begun to make money.
Although the product line has expanded in recent years, the products themselves have simple explanations and few models. There are the desktop lines, the laptops, the iPods and the iPhones.
#9: Be First When You are Last
One way to draw attention to your product or to your concept is to be the first out of the chute with new ideas. Apple, because of its historically small market share and relatively small overall makeup, has no problem shifting technologies. Larger companies with a larger market share have to get more partners on board for major changes. Apple has no such problem. Here is a short list of mass-produced items that other companies did not have until Apple put out first: mass-produced home personal computers, spreadsheets, presentation programs, digital media exchange program (Quicktime), digital cameras, color monitors, 3.5 floppy drives, mouse, desktop laser printer, CD ROM drive, built-in networking, built-in wireless and firewire. This list of “firsts” goes on and on, but anyone who is familiar with computer technology cannot deny that Apple has been the first to bring things to market many times. This ability to be the “first” allows Apple to be the R&D department for the entire computer industry. (When Apple was close to bankruptcy, Wired magazine ran an article asking readers to pray, knowing that if Apple died, so would much innovation in the industry.) Innovation allows them to have gravitas even though they have a small market share.
#8: Go Against the Grain
When Apple introduced the iMac computer, the computer had no 3.5-inch floppy drive. It was an all-in-one model, and most striking, it came in a green-blue bubble-like transparent case! Computer industry proponents laughed at Apple, saying that no computer without a floppy would sell, and a non-beige computer would sit on the shelves. The death knell for Apple was sounded and even Michael Dell chimed in and suggested that Apple sell its stock and close down. Well, you know what happened, Apple sold well over seven million of the blue/green little computers, and it saved the company from financial ruin. No matter what the proponents say, if you think your idea is worthwhile, go for it.
Apple opened its now legendary chain of stores when Gateway was closing theirs across the nation. Again, industry insiders predicted that Apple would close up these shops within a year. Now, the Apple Store makes more dollars per square foot than any other retail chain in the US, bar none.
#7: Think Big
In January 2001, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made an offhand remark during one of his famous Macworld keynote addresses: “We really like Sony, and we want to be like Sony.” Not many people thought of that remark, and the ones that did rolled their collective eyes to heaven. Apple like Sony? No way. Sony was huge, Apple was small. What Jobs meant was that they liked the fact that Sony could produce innovative products that people actually liked, they looked good at the same time and they made them quickly after R&D time. Think the Walkman. So Apple began to think like Sony, imitate the Sony model and now, Apple is being called the Sony of the 21st century. The iPod is the “Walkman of the 21st Century.” Think you can do things others don’t think is possible. Apple has, if you think about it, out-Sony-ed Sony by thinking big.
#6: Create for the Casual User
I really like iLife. This is a suite of products that seamlessly integrate with each other so that your photos can be seen in your movies and be burned on your DVD, all the while you are composing music and publishing to the web. My blog site is an example of how iLife works. I take pictures in iPhoto, make movies in iMovie, create my podcasts in Garageband, and post them to the web in iWeb. All of these programs talk to each other. When iLife came out, it was billed as “Microsoft Office for the rest of your life.” The idea was that not everyone all the time used computers to write memos and create Powerpoint presentations. Think about how you can address the needs of the users that don’t always fit into the “best users” category. The iPhone is targeted at the consumer market. (A smartphone for the masses, when the business community was the major buyers of smartphones. Go down to Walmart and pick up an iPhone.) Make products that address the needs of those that are not the “star users” a priority, and you will be making these for the vast majority of users.
#5: Sell the Benefit
Don’t sell the product on whether or not it looks good, or feels good, or whether the cost is better. Sell the benefit. Why does this product, this lesson, this technology make the user’s life better? When Apple sells its iPods, it doesn’t bore the user with mind numbing techno-babble. They say something like “1,000 songs in your pocket.” That sums it up. If I buy this device, I can carry around 1,000 songs. Cool. I don’t care if they are compressed with whacked-out codecs. All I care is that the thing works and makes my life better. When working with the public, they will jump onto your bandwagon if you show them that your product will make their lives better. “This program will help you because...” “Your children will improve if they use this because...” “You need to drink my coffee because…” Get them behind you because if they don’t have this product in their lives, their lives will be more difficult.
#4: A Little Excitement goes a Long Way
Apple can send out an INVITATION to a press event, and the price of the stock will rise. Even if the invitation has little or no information about the actual product, people will buy stock because they believe whatever it is will be exciting. Be able to generate as much excitement about whatever you selling and it will go a long way towards winning over your audience, once you actually begin selling. Apple fans have dozens of websites scattered around the net devoted to RUMORS about things Apple may or may not bring to market. Apple does little to squelch the rumor sites (unless they get too close to the truth) and in doing so, adding mystique to the company. Generating excitement towards something is a major part of generating excitement about what you do.
#3: Pay Attention to Detail
Apple is known for designing exciting LOOKING products. There is a Zen to the design process, and it shows with the products coming out of Apple. But while almost anyone can do a cool-looking product, Apple goes beyond just the outside look of the product. I remember opening up a computer to see where the RAM was located and was amazed at how nice the INSIDE of the computer looked. The INSIDE was as carefully designed and good looking as the outside. Even the boxes that the company ships their products in are well designed and thought out. It is the difference between a fine dining and fast food. Both will fill you up, but what one would you rather eat? The one made by machines and overly processed, or the one made by hand right after you ordered it? If you spend a little more time making your product or your service a little better than the other guy, then it shows. Don’t believe it? Go look at the “iPod Killer” put out by Microsoft called the Zune, and compare it to the iPod. The look, the feel, the experience of the iPod are all far superior to the Zune even though they essentially do the same thing. The same could be argued for the OS of the Mac vs. Vista. And very few people will tell you that their Dells look better than a Mac.
#2: Keep It Simple
Almost every product that Apple sells is designed with brain research in mind. How does the average human interpret this information and then proceed to process it? I have found in my dealings with people, that when a step is added to a process, you lose people. I don’t know the numbers, and I don’t have the research, but the more complicated you make something, the less willing people are to do it for you. That is why people make “comfort foods” more often than they make five course dinners. Mac and cheese is easier to make than prime rib. The same is true with Apple products. The operating system, the iPod, iMovie, the list goes on and on, all are easier to use that the competing products. I know, some will argue, but I challenge anyone to find a home movie editing program easier to use than iMovie. Or to find an MP3 player that is easier than an iPod. There aren’t any. It is often more difficult to make something appear to be easier to use, because the hard part is going on in the background, out of the experience of the users. Simplicity is difficult, but simplicity pays off. All you have to do is look at how many iPhones are out there to see that is true.
#1: Take the Other Guy’s Stuff and Make it Truly Your Own
There is a difference between stealing someone’s work and making a rip-off copy, and truly making it a new experience. One of the signs of the truly gifted is their ability to take discrepant events, and fuse them together into a completely new paradigm. Great artists have done this over the years (Picasso and Cubism), great thinkers like Einstein (“I stand on the shoulders of giants”) have done so, and so too I think Apple has done. (Are there such thing as gifted organizations?)
Apple didn’t invent the personal computer, and they certainly didn’t sell the most personal computers, but they have changed the way we look at the computer. They didn’t invent the MP3 player, but they took a product that already existed and made the experience easy (Reason #2), designed a very nice product (Reason #3), addressed a need that others thought didn’t exist (Reason #6), and generated tons of excitement (Reason #4). They didn’t invent the smart phone, but they certainly changed the smart phone experience for the user. (Recently, it was announced that over 500,000,000 programs had been downloaded from the iPhone App Store.) In the process, the way the press and the public view Apple is no longer that of a beleaguered company bleeding money, but rather the company that is forward-thinking and cutting-edge. Apple has an uncanny ability to do this, and so too I think, someone that wishes to truly make an impact should be able to do this as well. The web is full of things called “mash-ups” where someone takes some content and makes it their own by adding, subtracting, editing. Take a product and show how it makes your customers lives easier. Add excitement.
I suppose you could learn lessons from just about anything if you watch it long enough. Children, coworkers, spouses, parents, nature, everything can provide you with lessons. I just happen to have been watching Apple for the last few years. Start watching. Make a mental note. Start learning.
Become your own Apple.
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-- Tim Holt’s Ed Tech Blog
-- Interview with an Apple Marketer
-- Apple Store Financial Info
