Steve Jobs and the Eureka Myth
[Via HarvardBusiness.org]
Steve Jobs’s resignation from Apple has sparked plenty of commentary on his achievements, his personality, and his vision. He deserves the attention: This is a man who transformed the technology world and helped build Apple into what was, at least for a few hours earlier this month, the world’s most valuable publicly traded company.
But the idea, so common in this week’s media coverage, that Jobs was an inspired savant who succeeded by taking big risks on personal hunches, is way off the mark. Rather than worship at the altar of inspiration and “going with your gut,” the rest of us should use this moment to consider the fundamental strategies that drove Apple’s success.
We’ve all heard the old saying about the balance between inspiration and perspiration. As well-known as this saying is, we often tend to forget it when we come upon things that really look effortless. Take Apple. The past decade has seen what appears to be an almost inevitable ascent of the company and its products to the pinnacle of success. Each iteration is better than the last; each new product is a hit from day one; and the lines outside the Apple stores remain full of customers who don’t just like the products — they love them.
With each launch of another device or application, Apple seems to pull exquisite new products, fully formed, from the minds of a few geniuses in turtlenecks. From the outside, Apple’s secret sauce would seem to be inspired design (read, “think different”); and inspired marketing of that design. In other words, 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration (mostly experienced by eager customers scrambling to get the latest iPod or iPad). iPhone 5? “Eureka!”
The truth is really a lot different.
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Nice short article that displays just how Apple is able to be so successful.
For example, it does not just create new technologies by its gut. It starts with 10 different versions in-house and places them in competition with each other. By the time it gets down to just one, it has gone through enough competition to succeed in the market.
Because Apple knows the more you compete inside, the less you’ll have to compete outside.
Everyone else just tries to get something out and hope the market like it. That is why Samsung made a million tablets but sold only 20,000.
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