Archive for May, 2009
Apple’s success strategy: Build software that sells hardware
Posted by Melody Adhami in iPhone Blog on May 15th, 2009
From the early days of its computer business, Apple devised a strategy and under Steve Jobs’ rule, they have kept this strategy and it is finally paying off.
Although 10 years ago, many would have argued that Apple made a big mistake not opening and allowing external software onto their computers, people probably have a different opinion today. Apple believed and carried forward that hardware and software go hand-in-hand and only when one company builds both can they really get the right recipe.
So many years later and a few lessons learned along the way, Apple is still coupling hardware and software however they have reversed the strategy so that they are not selling hardware with a specific software installed but rather they are selling highly demanded software and lucky for them it only runs on their own hardware devices. The most recent and I would argue best example of this is the iPhone and the access to thousands of different “cool” applications that are tickling the curiosity of even the most skeptical of users. It’s brilliant! Developers make software that is highly demanded and Apple gets to sell their devices.
Top 100 Social brands and the winner is …iPhone
Posted by Melody Adhami in Uncategorized on May 8th, 2009
There was a recent release of the top 100 social brands by social media marketer Virtue, and not surprisingly iPhone took the number one spot, surprisingly 2 ahead of Apple which ranked 3rd. Although it is entirely surprising that the iPhone is popular but its history is far shorter than many brands that ranked lower such as CNN, Disney, Sony and a plethora of other brands that consumers have known for years and decades.
Although the findings themselves are quite impressive it is important to try to analyze what it is that has taken iPhone to this number one position in such a short time span. I think it really comes down to three things and it is the combination that has made the iPhone (and made the iPod) what it is.
- Ease of Use
- Aesthetics
- Marketing
Obviously the ease of use and having a product that works and does so in an easy way is a sure way to make a product popular and highly used. You can a beautiful product, with millions of dollars supporting it but if its not user friendly then success can be greatly jeopardized. I think that the aesthetics and marketing also play an important role and I think Apple has found the right combination. With beautiful sleek designs and great marketing to go along with it, they have a following that has ventured out of niche and into mass.