Why Apple Destroys Competitors: 3 Lessons You Can Use
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- by Oleg Mokhov
- October 6, 2010
It’s safe to say that Apple destroys its competitors in the consumer electronics industry. Sure, Windows is more popular than OS X, but Apple stands strong with it’s zero debt, recession-proof quarterly earnings increases, iand Pod, iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales.
Not to mention the totally-subjective-but-you-know-it’s-true sexiness and superiority of the hardware design. You don’t have to be a Mac fanboy to appreciate the quality.
There’s a few simple reasons as to why Apple destroys competitors. And those reasons are 3 lessons you can use for your own stuff: products, business, web design, art, whatever.
But first, it’s interesting to see some competing companies trying to figure out Apple’s secret. However, the secret is: there is no secret. Apple’s way of doing things is pretty simple and public to see by anyone. Here are the 3 lessons I saw from how Apple operates and dominates:
1. Follow your gut instinct.
Apple goes against common business practices. They do their own thing, don’t jump into trends, and they inevitably end up setting trends instead. Just look at how late in the mp3 player and phone games Apple came in, yet they set the standards for both. The same goes for them not jumping into the “hot” netbook market and instead releasing the trend-setting iPad a year later. Apple also ships without
“important” features, don’t do industry-standard things that they don’t want to (pre-release info, social media), and limit the number of product releases a year. The lesson here is to have the courage to follow your gut instinct, not what the trend and market dictates.
2. Care about details no one else does.
From the industrial design to especially the software interfaces, Apple simply pays attention to getting certain details right – details that most competitors don’t pay attention to. And while it’s hard to quantify why this works, it really does in a subconscious consumer-turning-into-a-passionate-fan way.
3. Passion really does fuel a leading business.
Yep, it sounds so corny. And it’s forehead-slapping common sense to some. But it really is true, and a lot of entrepreneurs get caught up in numbers and market this and that and forget this simple fact. Again, another intangible thing, but it’s a part of Apple’s success. It shows in the presentations Steve Jobs gives, the commercials, the packaging, even the intro video you see when you first turn your new Mac on. Jobs was quoted as saying (paraphrased): “Why do we do what we do? We create consumer products we’d be proud to recommend to our family and friends.”
Jeremy Toeman and Greg Franzese said that “the real secret to Apple’s success is that there are no secrets”. But John Gruber of Daring Fireball put it best when he added: “It’s that simple: Apple cares about details that no other company cares about, and these details matter.”
So whatever it is you do, simply care about details that none of your competitors care about.
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Actually, you only need 1 of them. Get a CEO who could market freezers to Eskimos. Jobs is a brilliant salesmen, maybe one of the best. He has to be to avert people’s eyes. He released a phone with no copy and paste and no multitasking. If Nokia or RIM ever did that, both the market and the media would have crucified them. Ipod? Again not the best audio device (more choices, more features, less price, improved audio Qual elsewhere) but Apple marketed the ipod until it became THE one and only player to have. iPad? Not the first, not the best (no flash, no camera anywhere, no true multitasking, etc etc) but once again marketed to the hill. And not just marketed, but marketed to the right people who will give great reviews. (Walt M *cough)
Apple deserves every dollar in their billion dollar accounts, they are indeed true marketing gurus.
This post about marketing belittles the importance of having a quality prosuct to market in the first place – a by quality I mean one with the right combination of features to put you squarely ahead of the competition in ways which generally consist of looking at the whole user experience, rather than each part.
It’s so easy to summarize Apple’s success in the word “marketing”.
iPod was the first mass mp3 player that had enough onboard memory to store a typical music collection. At the times it was introduced, most mp3 players on the market could boast only 128-512 megs memory.
When I was choosing a phone in 2008 to fit my 12GB music collection, I had those options:
— WinMo PDA such as Dell Axim x51v with 16GB compact flash (or SD). Price: more than iPhone, battery life: after playing music for 2 hours with EQ, you could use it for 2 hours at best.
— Some Nokia with 8GB disk. Less space, price a little less than iPhone, but quiet output + shitty music quality. Battery life: after playing music for 2 hours with EQ, you could use it for 6 hours at best.
— iPhone 3G with 16GB. Loud volume. Battery life: after playing music for 2 hours with EQ, you could use it a whole fucking day and a bit of the next day.
Guess what did I pick?
Multitasking? Are you kidding? Do you even remember HOW it was done in competitor’s OSes?
In Symbian, you had to hold a special button to select an app most people they did not even know about it and they couldn’t understand the logic, why some apps where exiting and some not.
In WinMo most people had to go to control panel (!!!) to close apps (or install that SPB Software thing), because apps did not close when you pressed that “X” button in the top right corner, draining battery many times faster. Again, most people did not know that the device they had in their pocket was constantly running Solitaire, Word, IEXPLORE.EXE and tons of other shit, and they should be glad about it!
iPhone always had multitasking for music, and I still think it’s enough for a mobile device.
iPad is the first tablet that is designed to be used with a touchscreen, plus it’s the first tablet that has such battery life. It really does make difference, unlike “camera anywhere” (I actually lol’ed at that part).
Sorry dude, get your facts right.
Monty, all I can really say is that you just don’t get it.
If you truly believe that the only reason that Apple has been successful is because they are great at selling freezers to Eskimos, then you have so much ingrained bias, that it has destroyed your ability to think critically and objectively.
I agree, the little details no other company (at this price band) seems to give a damn about are what stand out when you draw comparisons with Apple.
“Care about details no one else does” It is important and that is why they make better products!
Apple kicks-ass and that is all there is to it. Do they have flaws? Hell yeah they do……but they don’t have anything Microsoft so that makes them a winner!!!!
“Care about details no one else does”, unfortunately also translates to “Doesn’t care about details everyone else does.” With Apple, you pay for the looks not functionality. Their hardware is outdated and their software doesn’t work. I have to agree with @Monty. Jobs is an amazing business man who “could market freezers to Eskimos.” He makes poo shine, and then you buy it willingly. The man is a genius.
Hardware is outdated? By what? The software doesn’t work? Which software and how doesn’t it work? You are a typical Apple hater and make groundless statements with no effort to back them up. You arrogantly expect people to believe them just because you say it.
The facts are, Apple is a better value for the money. If you are only interested in price, not quality, buy HP or Dell. If you want reliability, functionality, lower-priced software, less maintenance, and better resale value, but Apple. You may not like what I say, but you cannot prove that even one word is not true. Facts, not unfounded emotion.
I have used Macs and Windows equipment side-by-side since 1986. I generally have more problems with Windows systems in a week than I have had with Macs in 26 years. That’s the truth and not just my experience. But I deal in reality, not myths.
As a designer myself I will have to play the contrarian here because I disagree with the base philosophy here. I think most of us live in a bubble where we only use Apple products. This causes us to forget that there is another world out there and only see the world through Apple blinders.
My point is this. Apple is not the only company making stellar products. Apple has competitors that do a better job at some things. Software is the biggest one. Android is a serious threat as well.
While I like Apple, I do not think they are destroying their competition.
More than anything else I think Apple (who does have some downfalls as well…) proves that design thinking creates a great product. They aren’t waiting to see what people want, they think about what you don’t even know you need (like a phone that can capture video and play mp3′s) and deliver with a quality product.
All this is bull. Apple does one thing and does it well – creating a closed architecture and making sure that once the consumer is hooked that they have no way out. Jobs isn’t a brilliant sales man, he’s a drug dealer. And, a fascist one at that.
Durrrr.
Well said.
I have to chuckle every time that I see poeple spew venom against Apple. Sure, you don’t like them – get over it.
The only thing that makes me sad about Apple is that there isn’t another company in the entire consumer electronics arena that are producing great products that put user experience above tech specs and the rantings of geeks.
I would love to see true competition for Apple. Right now, if you want a quality experience (and we’re not talking about what the fiddling, hacking uber geeks thinks is a good experience) then Apple is the only company that consistantly delivers the goods.
I couldn’t agree more! All you Apple hater “get over it”! Apple is not just marketing – I hate to break it to you but the make great products. Easy, powerful, beautiful… the way applications should work.
I think there is one essential and enabling ingredient missing from this list: the talent available to execute. Steve jobs may be a product visionary, but his true genius is his ability to assemble the teams that can flawlessly execute his vision. In other words: let’s not forget the legions of brilliant engineers and designers behind every apple product.
Uh, this article sounds highly biased with scent of conspiracy theory (joint anti-Android alliance).
Geeks often forget that most customers, I mean typical human beings, not geeks, does not care if system is open or closed. They do not care what programming language can be used to make apps. They care if they are productive, and they care if product does what’s advertised.
Most handset makers advertise count of megapixels, screen diameter and size of internal flash memory. Who cares? When I see iPhone ads, I see that there are facebook, twitter apps, video calls, you can use it as guide to city abroad, you can find a restaurant. And that’s why people buy iProducts.
I totally agree with all the points you make in the article. However, I believe Apple has succeeded mainly because of its kick-ass marketing. I mean, how else would you sell a laptop for twice as much as its hardware is worth?
Sorry to interrupt the Apple circle-jerk, but I don’t completely agree with your article.
Apple makes fantastic products, they market well and they are an overall awesome company, I will agree with all of that. But your title… where is Apple ‘Destroying’ their competitors? MP3 Player sales along with iTunes would be the one area I can think of, other than that, they are a solid competitor, but not destroying by any means.
In smart phones, they are way behind RIM, and Android is quickly gaining ground. In personal computers, they still have a small share. Browsers, they are well behind.
Your opinion is valid in most areas, just a bit sensationalized in my own opinion.
Let the flaming begin, I know how vicious it can get :)
Sony used to be like apple once, walkman, discman, whatever it came from sony first. Heck mp3 player, Sony first came out with its own, but Ipod control the market at that time, I don’t know why.. you should know better
You all just really like Apple don’t you. Blind to the wonders of the rest. I own one Apple product, an iPod Touch, and it’s great. But I’m afraid it’s my last Apple product. Why: it’s because I feel I’ve been short changed. There is for instance a Bluetooth chip, which out the box I could not use. I had to jailbreak it to be able to use it. After that I discovered it could connect perfectly well to GPS. Why is this type of functionality not available out the box as it works perfectly well? Multi tasking, the same thing, mine works without any problems. Microphone, where’s the blooming microphone, it’s absolutely crazy that there’s no microphone. And last but not least, what’s the story with Flash. It works! so why not have it as an option!?
Nice read, good analysis. In addition to above, Taking risk on right time is also one of the key factors of jobs.
Slam Apple all you want, haters, but the bottom line FACTS are:
They’re successful.
They build things people want.
They have billions in the bank with no debt.
Their stock price consistently breaks records, as does their quarterly sales.
Everything else is just a bunch of crap. But hey…. keep griping, whining, and hating…