Analysis of Apple's Success

Apple is the boss of smart phones, and its success has been imitated by many people. Do you know how Apple succeeded? The following is an analysis of Apple's success that I shared. Let's have a look.

Apple successfully introduced

Apple is a high-tech company in America. Steve wrote it. Jobs and Steve? Wozniak and Luo? Ron Wayne et al. was founded in 1, 65438, and was named Apple Computer Company in the United States. 20071October 9, it was renamed as Apple, and its headquarters was in Cupertino, California.

Apple1980 65438+February 12 went public, and in 20 12, it set a market value record of $623.5 billion. As of June 20 14, Apple has been the largest company in the world by market value for three consecutive years. Apple ranked 15 in the list of the world's top 500 companies in 20 14 years. On September 30th, 20 13, in the "Best Brand in the World" report of HarmonyOS Group, Apple surpassed Coca-Cola to become the most valuable brand in the world. In 20 14, Apple brand surpassed Google and became the most valuable brand in the world.

20 14 12 9, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Apple will set up a large R&D center in Japan.

20 151October 28th, research company konas said that apple became the largest smartphone manufacturer in China for the first time in the fourth quarter of 20 14. On February 24, US stocks closed. Apple's share price rose by $3.565438 +0, or 2.7 1%, to close at $65438 +033, a record high.

The following is a comprehensive analysis of Apple's success:

On the west coast of the United States, between San Francisco and San Jose, there is a narrow strip 30 miles long and 10 miles wide, where 96% of semiconductor companies in the United States are concentrated, producing basic materials for the electronic industry? Silicon wafer, because of this unique terrain and product, has a vivid name since 197 1 year? Silicon valley. It was on this land that two young people in their twenties founded Apple. They are Steve, 2 1 year old. Jobs and Stephen, 26? Wozniak. Influenced by the latest technology and management knowledge, these two young people who grew up in Silicon Valley showed the spirit of innovation, competition and adventure very early. It was this spirit that led them to assemble the first computer by themselves, which eventually prompted them to set up the "Apple Company". From the personal computer iMac launched in 1998 to the music player iPod, which became popular all over the world in 200 1 year, to the MacBook, which received rave reviews in 2006, the iPhone, which revolutionized the industry in 2007, and the first tablet iPad in 20 10/year. Apple has been playing the role of "leader" in promoting the development of the whole mobile industry for 2012,21day. Apple's market value hit a record of $623.5 billion, breaking the record set by Microsoft and becoming the company with the highest market value in history.

Below, let the author take you to disassemble the success of Apple from a brand-new angle, and carefully analyze how this magical apple has reached the peak.

First, the apple core? Never-ending spirit of innovation.

It is no exaggeration to say that Apple is synonymous with innovation and creativity. Any product it introduces can drive the world crazy. Even the now criticized iPhone5C and iPhone5S still attract a large number of loyal fans. The secret is "innovation".

1. Design innovation keeps apples fresh.

At Apple, designers have to come up with 10 completely different simulation schemes for each new design, select three of them, and finally decide the best design scheme. And it is required that these 10 schemes must have enough innovation space. This ensures that Apple's products can remain attractive to people and keep Apple's "freshness". Not only that, for the research and development of a new product, Apple will have two very important design meetings. One is the brainstorming meeting of free innovation; Second, shift the focus to the development of applications and explore more potential development possibilities. Strict and scientific design methods have created perfect products.

2. Business model innovation to maintain Apple's leading position in the industry

Business model innovation can affect or even change the whole industry pattern. The secret of Apple's success lies in putting the best software in the best hardware? This sentence breaks the new generation business model of combining Apple's software, hardware and services. It is this model that makes Apple not only establish a leading position in the terminal field, but also firmly grasp the initiative in the entire mobile Internet ecological environment. The innovation of this model is comparable to great technological inventions. From the perspective of customer value, Apple is good at combining advanced technology, appropriate cost and excellent marketing skills, and designing the appropriate technology at the right time in the most suitable way for consumers' experience, thus achieving success; From the perspective of profit model, Apple relies on hardware products to obtain one-time high profits, while relying on content sales to obtain continuous profits from repeated purchases. The two profit models complement each other and have a virtuous circle. After firmly controlling the core resources and capabilities, Apple is open to the outside world and closed internally. Apple has its own system and strong offensive and defensive ability. In terms of key resources, Apple has a large number of industry-leading, innovative and perfectionist product designers and developers, as well as an outstanding CEO Steve Jobs who once belonged to this era and integrated technical, artistic and strategic talents. From the perspective of key processes, the company system, corporate culture and R&D management that encourage innovation ensure the reproducibility and scalability of Apple's product innovation, enabling Apple to continuously explore new industrial fields and copy its innovative business model to these fields.

3. Innovative marketing methods to maintain the charm of Apple products.

Whether it is the advertisement of Apple products or the product launch conference, wonderful pictures, beautiful melodies and profound artistic conception can always make people forget, even unforgettable. For example, the impressive print advertisement of iPod is a group of people in black silhouette, dancing in front of a red, yellow, green background, holding a white iPod in their hands and a white earphone cord hanging from their ears. Every time Apple has a very stylish promotion, it attracts groups of stable customers and groups of potential users at the same time.

4. Innovate production strategies to maintain the quality of apple products.

Apple has always adhered to a streamlined product line, and consumers' choices are always "limited". Because of this, Apple has always maintained a leading reputation among users. The streamlined product line allows the company to do a few things well, which makes products such as iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad popular all over the world and makes the company a key success.

5. Micro-innovation maintains Apple's user experience.

Looking back briefly, it is not difficult to see that Apple's products are actually a single-point breakthrough and continuous upgrading process. From the original MP3 player to the mobile phone and then to the tablet computer, the upgrade of "I" series products and "iOS" is actually a process in which Apple focuses on the core needs of users, breaks through from a single point, and then continuously expands functions, optimizes experience, enhances customer perception and enhances user stickiness. In the process of micro-innovation, Apple firmly grasps the needs of users, not seeking "big and complete", but seeking "small and refined". "Micro-innovation" plays an important role in the process of continuous iterative upgrading.

Second, apple peel? Amazing product aesthetics

From a psychological point of view, aesthetic taste can trigger an individual's positive attitude, and even make users have feelings for machines (such as love, loyalty and patience). In this regard, Apple has always impressed users with its minimalist design concept and beautiful product aesthetics. IPhone 4 and 4S have become models of industrial design, and their exquisite structures are concise to the extreme. The Biography of Jobs said: "He didn't invent many things directly, but he combined ideas, art and technology in a master way." Apple's products always embody an amazing design aesthetics. Jony-Ivy, an Englishman hired by "Bole" Jobs, has become an element of Apple's legend and is showing the world the flat design of a new generation of Apple products with a brand-new attitude. Although people have different opinions about IOS7 with a brand-new interface, on the day of its release, the global network traffic increased by 1 12%, and IOS7 was in iOS.

Third, apple flavor? Humanized product experience

Apple does not simply emphasize technology-leading technology companies, but top experts who know how to perfectly combine technology and humanities. Over the years, it has been using a different way of thinking to create many top products that are easy to use and full of fun. Apple is committed to achieving the best results with the least resources and expressing it in a simple and plain form. Taking the humanized touch screen design as an example, the hard mouse operation is completely replaced by the stretching, shrinking and sliding that children can operate. This series of designs has already become the usual practice of hardware manufacturers. This is reflected in the interests of consumers, that is, humanized and convenient user experience. In addition, Apple's products confirm a well-known business saying that "details determine success or failure". Apple's simple aesthetic conforms to the most basic humanity, efficiency, visual enjoyment, good manipulation experience, novelty and fun, and unique fashion, which meets the functional, psychological and emotional needs of consumers, brings perceived consumer benefits to Apple and completes the perfect brand image building.

Fourth, the apple tree? Exquisite and colorful product series

From I series to Mac series, from hardware to software, Apple is leading the development of Internet products by building a product system of personal digital life. In recent years, Apple has rebuilt its cognition in the field of mobile phones with iPhone and pioneered tablet computers with iPad. People often think that Apple, which likes to be maverick, can't stay ahead forever by relying on a single product with a single size and a single specification in the digital product market with diversified and personalized needs. In fact, Apple has long been involved in the personal digital life market, and its various consumer electronic products and services have covered mobile phones, computers, tablets, digital music players and digital media distribution. The colorful product array has covered most of the use environment and scenes in people's daily life, occupying a large number of users' time and attention share. From this perspective, Apple's product array plays an indispensable role. In addition, since the launch of iPhone5, people found that Apple began to pay attention to the attitudes of other manufacturers. In terms of size, color, specifications, etc. Apple is removing the aura of pride and carefully adjusting its strategy to meet the needs of users.

5. Apple grove? Prospective industrial ecology

How does Apple make the platform attract tens of thousands of third-party developers? The answer is to build a platform and ecosystem, which is unique to Apple and cannot be replicated by other companies. In essence, a platform is a set of rules that stipulate how people interact around certain economic opportunities. Apple helps programmers to find new opportunities. Through an open platform, innovative technologies can be expressed in a sensible way, and they have achieved themselves while helping others. As more and more people start to use technology, the ecosystem-based approach will change the previous model. Large companies will become channels for innovation divergence, and they will manage platforms that can support large-scale interaction. In the era of mobile Internet, the traditional channel mobile communication service is rapidly shrinking, and its proportion in the value chain is gradually declining, which pushes the center of the value chain of mobile service to shift to the content and application level, and the service/application platform has become the core link of industrial operation. It is with this in mind that Apple has made great efforts to build its own App Store? Application software store. Under such a guiding ideology, the App Store model has diversified and developed rapidly, which has become another trump card for Apple to win. In 20 1 1 year, the download volume of App Store reached a new milestone, exceeding 10 billion times. By March of 20 12, this number had been refreshed to 25 billion times. At present, there are more than 760,000 applications and more than 654.38+10,000 content providers in the App Store? App Store not only brings convenience to mobile phone users, but also builds a profit platform and healthy industrial ecology for third-party content providers.

6. apple logo? Charming brand culture

If consumers consider more product functional attributes (such as practicality, appearance, workmanship, etc. When buying a new product, when the product has a certain popularity, consumers will also consider external attributes such as brand perception and word of mouth when buying again. By integrating the internal and external attributes of products, Apple transforms them into a series of benefits that consumers can perceive, and then refines many benefits to become the brand value of Apple products. At this point, a single material product has become a positive spiritual consciousness? Brand value. From the perspective of brand management, product attributes are in the primary stage, which can be quickly imitated or even surpassed, while brand image is in the advanced stage, which is very difficult to be imitated and is a real competitive barrier for enterprises. Apple's unique brand culture can be said to have played a soul role in Apple's success. From the inside, employees are highly intelligent and satisfied; From the outside, Apple is becoming a part of fashion culture. When the lotus flower first blooms, its beauty is gorgeous and charming, attracting tourists like a cloud. But behind this gorgeous glory, it is loneliness and loneliness. It is Apple's silent persistence for decades that has accumulated its unique brand charm and cultural appeal.

7. Apple Road? Business intelligence beyond reach.

According to Buddhism, "wisdom" and "wisdom" are very different. Wisdom means "grow wisdom in a hurry" and wisdom means "must grow wisdom". Wisdom comes from addition, knowing what to do through hard work and hasty reaction; Wisdom uses subtraction to remove what is covered on the surface of truth, see what the real thing looks like and know what can't be done. Apple's wisdom is reflected in the timely launch of revolutionary products such as iPhone and iPad with insight into the mobile Internet, while Apple's wisdom is reflected in sticking to the product bottom line, not being a cheap version of Apple, and firmly controlling the mid-to high-end market. In the intelligent terminal industry, the key lies in the adaptation of products to different levels of market demand, and the most difficult thing is the ability to control the high-end market, which requires continuous climbing, enhancing product value and accumulating sufficient potential energy. While pursuing innovative technology application, paying attention to exquisite industrial design and praising good user experience, Apple's series of products have been criticized by the outside world for being too expensive, especially in developing countries such as China, and this almost arrogant attitude has also attracted many criticisms. But as we all know, this strategy of Apple has successfully attracted a large number of high-end users, and at the same time effectively distinguished the low-end market through price barriers.

Eight, the apple soul? People and dreams that change the world

Apple has gone from the early technological innovation that was blindly divorced from the market to the multi-point innovation that is people-oriented. Apple has been transforming itself with comprehensive advantages. After the stable development of the original market, it has been rationalizing and expanding its territory, and has always believed in its unique concept. It has come back to life through innovation and continuous development in setbacks, which has created today's success. And all this is inseparable from Apple's spiritual leader Steve Jobs. People say that "the times make heroes", but in the ICT industry, it is more often "heroes make times". Jobs is brave in innovation, pursues perfection, is good at stimulating the potential of creative talents, and organically combines detail management with grand vision? To a large extent, it is these entrepreneurial spirits and qualities that help Apple get out of the predicament and get on the right track. And his sentence "We are here to leave a mark on the universe. Why else would you be here? Living is to change the world. Are there any other reasons? ) "is inspiring all Apple employees and fans to realize their dreams by changing the world.

No matter what you do, as long as you devote yourself wholeheartedly and concentrate on making your work wonderful, you will gain a supreme dignity and the product will have an unusual aesthetic feeling. At the crossroads of technology and humanity, Apple firmly practices the dream of changing the world.

The secret of Apple's success: Ten key factors make it different.

20 10 at 2: 30pm on May 26th, Apple became the largest company in the technology field and the second largest company in the United States after ExxonMobil. In the past few months, Apple's market value has been biting Microsoft.

In the past few years, Apple's development process is like the launch of a space rocket, a series of rapid, tight and orderly explosions, and then soaring into the sky. Apple itself, its leaders and its products have become the lingua franca of a culture. Dell wants to be the apple in the business field, and Zipcar also wants to be the apple in the car sharing field. Mach even said that if the president of Apple is the president, the government will be able to provide better services.

How can a company or individual become an "apple in a certain field"? After talking with former employees, current partners and other professionals who have long been concerned about Apple, we can clearly see the answer to this question, which revolves around the following ten key factors.

depart from tradition

When leading the Apple team to design1980s products, the question about "What should a notebook look like?" ? Jobs often personally instructs engineers. "Once, he saw an unusually beautiful kitchen utensil in a department store", Andy? Hertzfeld said, "Then he asked the designer to design the notebook as he saw it." "On another occasion, he asked the designer to design the product as a Porsche." Andy? Hertzfeld is one of the founding engineers of Apple. He is the author of Silicon Valley Revolution: The Great History of Apple's Growth.

Computers should look more like sports cars and kitchen utensils, while Apple's followers are only high-end people who have bought or will buy Porsche. Obviously, it is difficult to attract them just by following the market trend of Silicon Valley, through technical experts or other conventional designs. The magic of Apple lies in its own research, thus attracting target customers in an unconventional way.

Deviate from convention

Technical experts generally believe that open source code is the general trend and embodies the principle of sharing. In this context, Apple is slightly closed.

But in Apple's philosophy, closure does not conflict with freedom. Jobs said to Ryan, "We try our best to make users experience the desired effect. ? Tate wrote in an email. Earlier, Ryan criticized Apple for banning the use of Flash technology on the iPhone and iPad in his blog. "You can disagree with us, but our motives are pure." Jobs wrote, "This technology was banned because the Apple Store provided too much freedom. You can buy programs that steal personal privacy, programs that destroy batteries, and pornographic movies. "

Despite this, programmers have always complained that the Apple Store is too closed, and they think that the Apple Store has always been dictatorial in designing applications. In other words, the problem is not that it is closed, but that it is arbitrary, hidden and frequently changeable in the formulation of rules. If Apple can relax transparency, it can avoid most of these disputes.

But fundamentally, Apple doesn't care about controversy. Despite the constant criticism, the Apple Store has achieved great success, and even its opponents have to admit that it is extremely convenient and interesting.

Reject complexity

"Rejection" may be the main role Jobs played at Apple. "He is a filter," said Hertzfeld, an Apple computer engineer. Every day, designers show Jobs ideas about new products and adding new functions to existing products. His answer is almost no, "I am as proud of the products we didn't make as I am of the products we made." Jobs said in an interview in 2004.

Jobs refused not only because of his constant aversion to complex design, but also because of cost considerations and expectation effects. For some complicated designs, we can't reduce the cost, and reducing the functions of some products can also create an expectation. "Deliberately ignoring a product feature that people want to have will stimulate people's desire for it." Reid, a former Apple engineer, said, "When you add this feature to the new version, users will be happier if they get what they want."

Apple has used this strategy again and again. The latest example is the iPhone O S4, which adds multi-tasking function. In fact, users of this function have been asking for it since 2007. Let's look at the iPad again. Are you sure you can't add cameras?

Service client

No matter how good your product is, there will always be problems. In recent years, in the field of notebooks and mobile phones, most of Apple's competitors have adopted the strategy of avoiding customers rather than serving them. They closed their customer service department and outsourced this business to a telephone service center composed of low-paid employees. They even ask customers to go online to find answers to common questions.

Twenty years ago, when Apple formulated its retail strategy, it made clear an overriding priority goal, that is, to create a retail store that can completely remind customers of the computer industry. They are committed to creating a friendly atmosphere similar to the lobby of Four Seasons Hotel in the store.

G eniusB ar is the representative. G eniusBar staff will diagnose every Apple product for you, no matter where you bought it. Unless the warranty period expires, the company will not charge any fees for the above services. Why is Apple so generous? "Sometimes customers come in for help, but they will buy new products when they leave," said Del, who once worked in G enius Bar.

Ignore opinions

Jobs always quoted Henry frequently on various occasions. Ford famously said, "If I ask customers what they need, they always say yes? A faster horse! ? "

Jobs used this sentence to illustrate Apple's philosophy that people can't predict what they really need. Customers will tell you a lot of things they need, but when you do what they want, it's not what they want. It's not easy to imagine things that don't exist yet.

But Jobs didn't treat customer feedback as insignificant. He regards it as inspiration, not direction; This is the method, not the result. Therefore, Apple can always introduce new products that meet customer needs and exceed customers' imagination.

Marketing everywhere

Just as G enius Bar proved to be a genius idea, Apple's global advertising slogan "Think different" also proved to be not empty talk, because the ideas of Apple fans are really different. Fans are as loyal to Apple as they are to Jesus. Apple's brand is so powerful and attractive that for some people, Apple has become a belief.

Apple has cultivated fans' religious fanaticism about the Apple brand in a series of subtle ways. Including the mystery of rendering products. The most important way is to strengthen the symbolic meaning of Apple products, and the most effective marketing strategy is rooted in the products themselves. Apple has built a clear brand image through the combination of color, sound, shape and other elements. Through these strategies, Apple has made its brand image deeply rooted in people's hearts.

This is particularly evident when Apple releases new products. Through a series of unified and coordinated steps, Apple has aroused the public's appetite and attracted more attention. When the public's attention is highly concentrated, Apple will announce the prepared information or new products. It's all about marketing.

weed through the old to bring forth the new

Don't be surprised if one day Apple introduces a computer without a desktop.

Just a fantasy? Absolutely not, these will be written into Apple's patent application documents. Although we haven't seen these products yet, we should not doubt Apple's innovative ability at all. In fact, no company reflects and reconstructs the basic links in its field as frequently as Apple. In the past few years alone, Apple has made great innovations in the production technology of its notebook computers, which is also the fastest and largest innovation in the field of notebook production and design. No other company has done this except Apple.

Apple completely ignores the concept of compatibility emphasized in the IT field, which is both a blessing and a curse for competitors such as Microsoft. In Apple's history, it adopted a new operating system and a new chip structure several times, and these decisions always made its original production and assembly base obsolete immediately. Apple always denies the irrationality and deficiency in the past design, and constantly brings forth the new, so that its products can always stand proudly at the forefront of the times with a unique style.

Appropriate "dictatorship"

In 2000, as the operation manager of Apple's Astarte American division, Mike? Liszt and Ivanger are responsible for the research and development of D V D recording technology, that is, installing this D V D on a high-end computer and transforming it into ID DVD in the future. The project interface provides various window and menu options, as well as a large section of function description text.

"Then Jobs came in," Ivanger Liszt recalled. "He didn't read our work carefully, but drew a box on the whiteboard." "This is a new design." Jobs said, "just a window, push the audio-visual materials into the window, and then click a button called play." This is what we want. "

"Everyone froze," said Ivanger Liszt, in a very different style from his previous company. The technical field pursues inclusive and thorough innovation and gathers the wisdom of the public. Apple engineers spend 100% of their time designing products planned by a few senior executives or Jobs alone. So few people have the right to decide that Apple can only launch one or two innovative products a year.

reuse

"Revolutionary" is one of Jobs' favorite words. He strongly praised every invention and creation of Apple as unique and creative.

Whether Apple's products are revolutionary or not depends on our definition of the word revolutionary. Apple is good at collecting and summarizing the latest ideas in the field of technology and transforming them into its own. Apple is good at discovering the problems and deficiencies of other similar products, and solving the above problems and deficiencies of its products, or improving and innovating other similar products on the shelves under Apple's model.

The iPad is a typical example. As early as 200 1, Bill? Gates introduced a product based on w indow s OS, which had almost the same function, but there were many problems to be solved in the development of interactive interface and application software at that time, so Microsoft didn't stick to it. Jobs found that none of the above problems were based on Apple's existing technology, so the iPad was born. In the first two months, 2 million iPad were sold.

Orderly

A few weeks after the launch of the iPad, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and other companies delayed the launch of similar products. They are trying to make products that are more complex and powerful than the iPad. Are they trying to create their own version? Fast horse? So they postponed the market and went back to the design room. At the same time, Apple's other competitors, such as Google and Intel, are also scrambling to deploy troops in this field.

Apple is not bound by this competitive situation, and it strictly follows its own timetable. Apple's timetable is formulated in strict accordance with its own business strategy and long-term vision, which is slightly influenced by the market situation and competitors' situation, so that Apple can always take the initiative, launch some new products in time and seize market opportunities.

Six secrets of apple's success

1. The developers of any product created by Apple want to keep it for themselves.

2. The product must be easy to use.

3. Keep the product design simple.

4. Provide thoughtful customer service and in-store experience for users.

Apple will only launch products that should be able to do better.

6. Apple is at least two years ahead of its competitors.