The products bubble up, but there has to be czar…
The products bubble up, but there has to be czar. The success or failure of a startup depends on its first product. It’s a hits business. If you pick the right product you win big. It’s a high-wire act. It’s very clear when you fail. You have to risk everything every time you do it. It’s playing center-court at Wimbledon. And you have to have a lot of power to do it. Not many have the power or the will to push it through the organization without being edited or compromised or watered down. It doesn’t work if you pick by committee. Apple is a hit-driven company. It’s had one hit after another.
–Gordon Moore, Venture Capitalist and Author of Crossing the Chasm
All of which would make the iPod…
All of which would make the iPod a contender for the biggest consumer electronics hit of all time. The current record holder, Sony’s Walkman, sold 350 million units during its fifteen-year reign in the 1980s and early 1990s. Perhaps the most important aspect of the iPod’s success is that the iPod doesn’t have a sole progenitor: there’s no single ‘Podfather.’ It’s never just one person–success always has many fathers.
–Leander Kahney
Innovation has nothing to do with how many…
Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBA was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about the money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.
–Leander Kahney
It seems to take a very unique combination of technology…
It seems to take a very unique combination of technology, talent, business and marketing and good luck to make significant change in our industry. It doesn’t happen that often.
–Leander Kahney
Total Control
August 29, 2008 by office
Filed under Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Leadership
(25907)
For many years, companies like Microsoft publicly vilified Apple, with its preference for proprietary systems. But now, all of a sudden, even Microsoft is switching gears. The company is trying to build its own version of the “digital hub” for households with Microsoft own Zune and Xbox at the center. Microsoft is starting to build hardware as well as write software, which is quite a sea change from its usual modus operandi.
So why does Jobs insist on such total control over things? The answer is probably not as complex as it might appear at first glance. It appears that Steve Jobs wants to control everything lock stock and barrel for some hard-nosed philosophical and practical reasons. Jobs wants to make complex devices like smart phones and computers into genuine mass-market products. To achieve that, he needs to wrest control of the devices back from consumers and get everything working smoothly. The only way Jobs can achieve that is if Apple controls every part of the overall customer experience.
Jobs is a control freak extraordinaire. He controls Apple’s software hardware, and design. He control’s Apple’s marketing and online services. He controls every aspect of the organization’s functioning, from the food the employees eat to how much they can tell their families about their work, which is pretty much nothing. Some have suggested that Jobs keeps tight control at Apple to avoid being ousted again. Perhaps, some have speculated, Jobs’s controlling tendencies are the result of his being adopted as a child. But Jobs’s control-freak tendencies have lately turned out to be good business, and good for the design of consumer-friendly gadgets. Tight control of hardware and software pays dividends in ease of use, security and reliability.
–Leander Kahney
Whenever there is a tight integration of hardware and software, a more manageable and predictable system emerges. Sure, closed systems limit choice, but that restriction also means the resulting system can be made more reliable. Open systems are by definition more fragile because there are more people who can do things that might clash. Therefore, Jobs has always made systems that are closed to outside developers–from the Mac through to the iPod and now to the iPhone.
Admittedly, most of Apple’s computers now have expansion slots built in to them, but this only reflects the fact that expansion devices are now much more rigorously tested and certified. Furthermore, most of the components in the latest generation Mac computers are the same as almost any other personal computer. But Apple is the last company in the computer industry that has retained control over its own software. That means if things go wrong, customers can call Apple and get it sorted out. There is none of those frustrating standoffs that arise sometimes where the computer manufacturer blames Microsoft for a fault and Microsoft blames the computer manufacturer. Apple is in the driver’s seat from go to whoa.
This also means that upgrades can be handled seamlessly. Apple can upgrade its iPods quickly and efficiently trough the iTunes software. When a customer next downloads a song, the new version of the software can be uploaded and installed without the customer even being aware of it. Apple can also build in all kinds of other integration–all thanks to Steve Jobs and his stubborm insistence on going it alone and controlling the entire widget.
Apple is also perfectly positioned to develop whole business systems rather than stand-alone computers and other gadgets. Apple can bring together applications that combine features of the operating system and totally integrated software and hardware in ways other companies simply cannot match because they don’t understand all of the components to the same degree.
The fact that Apple is able to deliver the whole experience with its iPod is probably the main reason no other companies have yet managed to bring to market an iPod killer. Most rivals attempting to dislodge Apple have focused on building a better gadget, but the iPod’s real secret sauce is the blend of hardware, software and services that delivers a great customer experience. Apple makes all of those components come together in a way that delivers a great customer experience.
Apple’s the only company left in this industry that designs the whole widget. Hardware, software, developer relations, marketing. It turns out that, in my opinion, is Apple’s greatest strategic advantage. We didn’t have a plan, so it looked like this was a tremendous deficit. But with a plan, it’s Apple’s core strategic advantage, if you believe there’s still room for innovation in this industry, which I do, because Apple can innovate faster than anyone else.
–Steve Jobs
The roots of Apple were to build computers for people, not for corporations. The world doesn’t need another Dell or Compaq. The great thing is, Apple’s DNA hasn’t changed. The place where Apple has been standing for the last two decades is exactly where computer technology and the consumer electronics markets are converging. So it’s not like we’re having to cross the river to go somewhere else; the other side of the river is coming to us.
–Steve Jobs
In a consumer market, design, reliability, simplicity, good marketing, and elegant packaging are key assets. It’s coming full circle–the company that does it all is the one best positioned to lead.
–Leander Kahney
It seems to take a very unique combination of technology, talent, business and marketing and good luck to make significant change in our industry. It doesn’t happen that often.
–Steve Jobs
Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBA was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about the money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.
–Steve Jobs
All of which would make the iPod a contender for the biggest consumer electronics hit of all time. The current record holder, Sony’s Walkman, sold 350 million units during its fifteen-year reign in the 1980s and early 1990s. Perhaps the most important aspect of the iPod’s success is that the iPod doesn’t have a sole progenitor: there’s no single ‘Podfather.’ It’s never just one person–success always has many fathers.
–Leander Kahney