What makes Apple different
Tuesday - June 10, 2008 Filed in: Entrepreneurial
1/ Apple technology is proprietary, all the way
Apple is creating a premium computing platform, rather than an open and commoditized one. Premium markets precede open markets and dish up much higher profit margins. Proprietary environments also allows Apple to control the differentiated customer experience.
2/ Apple is focused on lifestyle computing
Apple is focused on creating solutions to support our lifestyle - a massive addressable market - that consists of music, photography, video etc., rather than esoteric office software for people with lots of technology expertise.
3/ Apple is building an ecosystem
Apple is focused on supporting a differentiated ecosystem, rather than building competitive technology silos. The sum of all lifestyle components interacting with each other make it unique. The iPod remains competitive because of the iTunes store that is accessible through a (Mac) computer and vice versa. Their capabilities are tied to each other.
4/ Apple is building an unique customer experience
The experience of purchasing, innovative design, great product quality, and unique (in-store) customer support provides the evidence of a company that wants to please you.
There are many other differences, some of which also lie in a fundamentally different product development strategy. But top-level differentiation drives micro-economics.
Other companies face an uphil battle if they don’t compete with Apple at the macro level first.