4 lessons from Apple

The triumphant return of the company, which ten years ago was in a deplorable state. Today, Apple is literally a thing of worship. Look at your iPod, the company name is only in small letters. Part of the strength of this brand comes from the unusual history of a computer company rescued from the destruction of its co-founder, Steve Jobs, who returned to Apple in 1997 after years of exile, transformed it into a consumer electronics company, and now it comes to the industry of multi-million annual sales mobile phones. But the main feature of Apple lies in its inventive reputation. In international polls for the most innovative company, she always ranks first. From their first computer in 1977, to the Mac with a mouse in 1984, the iPod music player in 2001, and now the iPhone, which goes on sale in America this month, Apple has succeeded ahead of its time.

The company, which will soon be included in the catalog of leading companies S & P 100, of course, not without flaws. Not everyone's favorite Steve Jobs implicated in the scandal with the issuance of options to buy shares backdating. The company got into an unpleasant situation because of the refusal to provide third parties with access to their operating system and software to protect musical compositions (this is a payback, as the company claims, for reliability and durability). There are also complaints about manufacturing defects and customer service.

Apple is not the only one in the high-tech industry when it comes to defective gadgets and service centers that do not provide assistance, but with all due respect to the company, this is very unusual. The company instills almost that religious fervor in its customers. There is no doubt that the company's biography is very closely connected with the resourceful Steve Jobs, who is a very rare example of a showman for this industry. And yet, with all its flaws and quirks, Apple is a company that can teach others at least four important lessons.
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Lesson one: Not invented here, well, nothing

The first lesson is that innovation can occur both outside and inside. Apple is widely regarded as an innovator, continuing the traditions of Thomas Edison and Bell Laboratories, hiding under the lock of its engineers for the "preparation" of fresh ideas and basing their products on their inspirations. In fact, the real skill of the company is the ability to summarize their own ideas with the technologies from the outside, and putting on the results in elegant software and stylish design. The idea of ​​the iPod, for example, came to mind a consultant hired to run the project. It was created by combining “off the shelf” and “homemade” ingredients, such as: a special, user-friendly control system. And it was created to work in tandem with iTunes from Apple, which was also purchased, and then reconstructed and improved. In short, Apple is a technology leader and integrator who is not afraid to gather ideas from outside by adding his own tricks to them.

This approach, better known as “network innovation”, is not limited to electronics. It was also taken into circulation by companies such as Procter & Gamble, BT, and several giants in the manufacture of drugs. All of them understood the power of the fact that not all good ideas are born in native walls. To make “network innovation” work, you need to set up friendly contacts with start-ups and scientific researchers who are constantly looking for new ideas, and also make sure that your engineers will not fall victim to the “not invented” syndrome, whose presence is always distinguished by “homework” development from come from outside.

Lesson Two: Simplicity and Ease

The second lesson is that Apple exemplifies the importance of developing new products based on the needs of consumers, rather than on the needs of technology. Many technology companies believe that smart stuffing is enough to sell a product, which creates gizmos created by engineers for engineers. Apple consistently combines smart technology with simplicity and ease of use. The iPod was not the first digital audio player, but it was the first to make transferring, managing, and purchasing music so easy that almost anyone can learn how to use it the first time. Or, for example, the iPhone is not the first mobile phone that includes an audio player, browser or mail software, but most of the existing smart phones require an adequate level of knowledge to work.

Apple is not the only company that pursues ease of handling. The Dutch electronic concern Philips is trying to do the same. Niklas Zinnstrom and Janus Friis, possibly the most “rooted” European geeks, brought the existing, but painstaking work, technology - Internet telephony to the masses, making it easy to operate using Skype; they plan to do the same with internet tv. But a very small number of companies see an advantage in “ease of use”.

Lesson Three: Stay Hungry, Stay Stupid

Listening to the wishes of the client is a good idea, but that’s not all. Despite all the talk about innovation, aimed at the consumer, and the ability to allow the interests of users to manage the design of new products, the third lesson from Apple suggests that a smart company should sometimes ignore what the market says it needs at the moment. The iPod was ridiculed when it appeared in 2001, but Steve Jobs succumbed to his instincts. Nintendo has experienced something like this with its gaming motion-controlled video console - the Wii. Instead of reinventing the console for existing gamers, she relied on the fact that non-gaming people are a free market and has developed a more attractive console.

Lesson Four: Dodge Wisely

The McIntosh was created from the remains of Lisa, an earlier product that had a fiasco; The iPhone is the answer to the failure of the original music phone of the company created in partnership with Motorola. Both times, Apple learned from its mistakes, and tried again. Her latest computers were based on technology developed by NeXT, which Steve Jobs founded in 1980, but which failed and was later acquired by Apple. The moral of the lesson is that you do not need to stigmatize yourself for failure, but to accept it, and to learn from it; European inability to create an analogue of Silicon Valley owes its complex bankruptcy laws.

Conclusion

None of these lessons naturally guarantees you success; you can buy up good ideas, pursue simplicity, ignore focus groups and fail with the mind, and still fail. Apple itself almost suffered. Sure, self-assured Steve Jobs will once again surpass himself, but no one can guarantee the success of the iPhone; However, at the moment it is difficult to imagine a different company than Apple, which would so clearly characterize the art of innovation.