The unveiling of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C a few days ago got me thinking. Going by history in technology, it’s unwise to bet against Apple. This company’s contribution to the development of revolutionary technology that has become essential to our daily lives is now recorded in infamy.
Some of the nervousness and grumbling about Apple comes from having lost its visionary founder Steve Jobs and the way he presented Apple to the world, some from the absence of perceived fast-paced innovation of new technology and some purely economically from the speculation of Wall Street.
Apple truly revolutionised and led two eras of innovation no matter how you see it. First, the personal computing revolution with the Macintosh and then the ushering of the post-PC era with the i-line of devices. If you worked in the world of tech, you’d be lucky to have one of these under your belt, if at all, during your company’s lifetime.
Tim Cook was chosen for the clinical manager he proved to be during Steve’s reign. He was instrumental in taking care of the supply and production chain of Apple to give it the speed of growth that led it to be the most valuable company in the world.
The fact that he is a great CEO is not in doubt. He has successfully defeated the opinion that Apple was finished without Jobs. That in itself is his biggest victory. Now, though, as Apple’s CEO, he is having to battle a new question that asks whether he is as great an innovator as Steve Jobs was, which is an unfair thing to ask of him.
Apple’s innovation had a lot to do with Steve and how he came up with and managed ideas but not everything. Steve carefully crafted a company environment with his design DNA wherein today new ideas can flourish freely. Tim’s continuance of that tradition within Apple will take care of the future innovation.
It’s apparent that Apple isn’t playing to expectations even with the new iPhone launch a few days ago and hopefully will keep doing so in the future. They are sticking to their long-held tradition of quality without compromise.
Apple has always been the niche company. Its products were never made or priced with the intention that they would dominate the world. Their mantra is to make a few things, but make them very well.
This idea doesn’t allow them to compete fully with everyone on everything because they don’t want to make everything or compete with everyone. They concentrate on making a few things well enough to bring joy to their users and that from a wider perspective is their lasting legacy.
What sets Apple apart from other technology companies is now a proven quotient, which is their ability to focus on a narrow range of exceptionally well-made and simplistic products. Like in the era of Microsoft dominance and now the Android and Samsung one, there will always be market-dominating competition, trying to cover that other angle of doing everything, and that’s great too, but I and many like me will always be attracted to the company who do a few things very well.
When I use their products, I know that they work, and that the design, the simplicity, the quality, consistency and upgrades that they give me for my money have a value far beyond the price I pay, which leads me in considering paying them the premium in the first place.
If there was to be another revolution in tech, I admit it’s likely to happen faster from “Jack of all trades” companies like Samsung, Microsoft, Google and Sony who throw a lot of darts at the board hoping a few would stick; in reality, however, defying probability, it’s consistently been coming out of the antithesis of that theory which Apple unabashedly adheres to.
I believe Apple, with the long-rumoured release of an impending iWatch, iTV and some other really fantastic unknown products lurking deep within its design dungeons, will continue to excite people who don’t expect a revolution from Apple every year but believe that their ideals, their financial strength and their team will lead to great innovations in the long run.
It’s by virtue of that working ethic in Apple Inc that they are of measured pacing in introducing new products that sometimes contributes to the grumbling I alluded to at the start. The concerns of Apple not innovating at all are unfounded, and looking at their past history one must give them the benefit of the doubt in that claim. Apple is anything but dead or dying.