With the current success of the iPod, iPhone and iTunes – and with so many raving Apple brand advocates it’s easy to forget the many product failures too – the Newton PDA and the Rokr cellphone for example. What is important is that Apple quickly learns from its mistakes. Mistakes are vital to the creative process.
Don’t ask your customers; lead them
Many companies rely heavily on focus groups and customer feedback about existing products and services. Apple follows W. Edwards Deming’s theory that customers can’t tell you that they want a product or function if they can’t yet envision it. Instead, they need to be shown a superior alternative. Apple’s generic strategy is 'product leadership'. They are in business to create those revolutionary alternatives.
Keep it simple
Engineers tend to design products they want to use, which explains why a typical device is jam-packed with a hopelessly confusing array of features. Apple's top executives all subscribe to a minimalist philosophy. The result is that the most-used features of its devices - like the iPod’s famous scroll wheel - are simple to learn and use.
Delight the few to sell to the many
Many companies make the mistake of trying to be all things to all people. Instead of trying to satisfy every fringe taste or market niche, Apple releases a narrow range of products in each category they compete in - each with a very specific target market customer in mind.
Beat yourself
Apple is succeeding because it strives each year to beat itself. As management guru Peter Drucker noted long ago, “You must be the one who makes your existing product, process, or service obsolete. It is the only way to prevent your competitor from doing so.”
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