The mistake that Apple made after Steve Jobs.
On the surface of it, Apple hasn’t changed strategy since the death of Jobs.
The problem that Apple always had is that it produces end-to-end solutions, just like Palm, BlackBerry, and Nokia.
Building a closed end-to-end solution is a fundamentally weaker business model than building OSs for 3rd party manufacturers like Windows or Android do.
And why does it matter? Apple’s making more profit from smartphones than all of them combined, right?
Well, it matters if you look a little beyond your nose. I’ll give you one example…
…in a few years time, when Android’s app revenues are 5x that of Apple’s and iPhones makes up only 5% of the smartphone market, you think companies will focus on the App Store version of their app or the Play Store? On which platform will they release their app first? Are shops going to accept Apple Pay or Android Pay first?
The battle will only become more and more uphill for Apple as it loses market share.
Apple does have one huge moat though. With its Watch, iPhone, Macs and iPads Apple has created an entire ecosystem which means its user base is loyal and sticky. And so when Apple starts its decline it won’t be a rapid one.
Ok, so how has Apple managed to become the biggest company in the world with a flawed business model?
Innovation. Apple innovated so damn well. The iPod, iPhone, iTunes, App Store, and iPad were so revolutionary they fundamentally changed the way humanity used technology. So revolutionary they made up for its closed model.
And perhaps the closed model is better suited to innovation.
But, to be clear, an edge-to-edge iPhone isn’t fundamentally changing the way humanity uses technology, neither is removing a headphone jack or making the MacBook Pro look sleeker than the last model.
If Apple doesn’t keep innovating in the way it did when Jobs was around it won’t be able to compensate for its closed model enough, and a decline will begin.
So, Apple’s biggest strategic mistake is that it has become too focused on milking its existing product lines instead of focusing on fundamentally changing the way humanity uses technology like it did in Jobs’ era.
Not to be forgotten, Steve Job was only the man focused on invention. Since then, Apple is just modifying his inventions, nothing really new has been made which is a trend breaking like Steve did. Look at the MacBook, we get new ports everytime a new version is released. Isn't that annoying? We have to buy extra connector every time. Just look at others, the same USB port, that makes sense, right?
Using the razor- blade technique isn't going to work anymore. Not just for Apple but for all. On the other side, look at Google, they have been researching on new things since a long time. Although nothing much has been released yet, at least they are trying to. What would you expect from a company that was just a search engine back then? They were fine but they didn't stop there. That counts. It looked like Apple didn't have any competition when it comes to iPad but Microsoft has recently announced a project for Surface tablets. Looks like coming days are going to be hard for Apple to stay on the top.
Be sure to follow us. Thank you for your time.
Comments
Post a Comment