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One Giant Apple Tree

By | January 25, 2012

After reading and attempting to put in perspective Apple’s 2012 Q1 earnings ($13.06 billion), I needed to step back and see why Apple is chosen over its competitors.  Why are so many buyers so quick to go Apple? What is in their products that is not in their competitors’ products?

 

Note:  I do not have any bias toward Apple, Google, IBM etc.   I use what works best for me.  I objectively critique any new product I buy, I do prefer some products to others, but do not assume I’m an Apple groupie.

What is in an iPad, iPhone or Mac computer that makes it so desirable?

1. Simplicity/Functionality (user experience)
“There’s a phrase in Buddhism, ‘Beginner’s mind.’ It’s wonderful to have a beginner’s mind.” – Steve Jobs

Number one reason why people choose Apple?  Almost anyone can use their phones and computers, and if you can’t you probably could teach yourself.  This is a direct result of well designed (sometimes too basic) user interfaces for iOS and OS X.  Apple enables their customers by offering simple and eye-pleasing navigation via consistency and simplicity in their products.  The easier someone can access their desired content, the more someone will use it.  I think the Buddhist quote above was used as inspiration/motivation for the iOS platform.  Nothing wrong with keeping things simple.

2. Hardware (elegantly designed)

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs

Most of us wouldn’t have guessed you could make computers so small, graceful and polished – one decade ago.  Apple has become the bench-mark for great design in tech products.  Why do Apple products feel so well-built and solid?  Apple has a bunch of talented designers, but more importantly they make their own hardware.  This was a passion of Jobs since his early twenties.  He said something along the lines, “once you have an appreciation for great software, you want to make great hardware for it to run on.”  Imagine designing an iPad  from the inside out – each part of the puzzle (hard drive, CPU, memory, cameras etc.) was specially designed to fit inside the product.  One of Apple’s most obvious hardware attractions is their screens.  Since the majority of user-interaction on phones and tablets is touch, it is extremely crucial to have high quality touch screens.  None of Apple competitors (as far as phones and tablets) have yet to notice how inferior their touch screens are.  I’m blown away by this, 99% of the interaction on phones/tablets is touch, how can a company afford to offer a screen that does not respond properly?

Well, I could go on – but software (user experience) and hardware (power/design) are the only two things that go into a great computer product.  Sure – Apple has great ads, cool stores, an impressive marketing campaign and the appStore, but all that aside…it is Apple’s products that have gotten them where they are.

Apple Stats:

-  US smart phone market share = 44.9% (as of Dec 2011)

-  Apple Overtakes Exxon as Most Valuable Traded Company In The World… Again

- $97.6 billion cash in hand ($64 billion of shore)

P.S. – If you haven’t read it yet… Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Topics: Life, Marketing & Tech, Misc. | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “One Giant Apple Tree”

  1. W Says:
    January 25th, 2012 at 5:49 pm

    There are many companies that make simple, well-designed products. That alone doesn’t guarantee success – I’m looking at you Google TV and Motorola Xoom. Amazon has the best chance at matching Apple with the Kindle Fire and Prime, but they better strive for more than just simple and well-designed.

    Apple’s products only appear simple. There is a lot of complexity hidden from the user. For example, the volume control on the iPhone can control the volume of the speaker, ringtones, conversation, and headphones depending on what you are doing at the moment. In iOS 5, you can even use it to trigger the camera, just like on any other small camera. Lots of complexity in two buttons.

    Apple products are intuitive and work the way you expect them to. Take Siri for example. You don’t have to go through some long training exercise, you just ask her a question and she responds, intuitively. She even recognized names and addresses in my contact list the very first time I asked her for help.

    Apple products just work. I bought an Apple TV so I could stream content from iTunes without tethering my laptop or iPad to my TV. I connected it to my TV, enabled home sharing, and started playing a video on my iPad. I clicked the triangle to activate AirPlay and the video instantly jumped over to the TV. No complex setup or configuration required. Apple TV will now go everywhere my suitcase goes.

    Apple has the complete solution. You can buy music and movies in iTunes and watch them on your iPhone, iPad or Apple TV. Again, no configuration required. I didn’t have to fret over my cable box not talking to my TV because my receiver didn’t have the right HDMI interface. Apple devices operate together almost seamlessly.

  2. shaun Says:
    January 27th, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    Yah I agree – I should have noted when I said “simple” I meant from the end-users perspective…the majority of Apple users are probably not tech savvy in iOS. I also think it is awesome how their devices require minimum to no configuration after set up……….I would like to see something else, perhaps the kindle fire, catch the iPad

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