Occasional Excellence...
This will be a rant... I will try to make it relevant.
How many times a week do I read about this company or that company firing a slave at Apple? Sometimes it's a company that sues Apple for stealing tech. Sometimes it's another company writing a column about how pricey Apple products are... sometimes it's just posing .. most of the time you can feel the jealousy and envy the writer has over Apple's successes.
I am not a long time Apple follower, having started only in 2007 when they caught my attention big time with the iPhone. I had dabbled around an iPod (click wheel) and had never even looked at Macs until then. One thing for sure, despite my lack of knowledge about the company, i was adamant that Apple represented the evil to be terminated in this world... that was until i dug a bit deeper. The iPhone was the first real product that caught my eye... I was not going to fork 700$+ (in Canada for a jailbroken phone) on a cell phone to replace my trusted Palm Treo....or so I thought.
The integration and promise to not have to carry an iPod & a phone was alluring but what made me say "Shut up and take my money!" was when i got my hands on the phone and tried it. There was a revelation. From there, I extended my search to other products...today I use mostly Apple products at home & the office. There is one thing that I have not gotten used to though... the ? bashing.
I was guilty of it... for too many years... however I went to check the rest of the products and since... saw that there was a company n this world that DOES care about it's end user. Well....they care about the wallet mostly but they can't get to it unless they make something that will make me say YES!!!! Hence a phrase that was said more than once.
How easy it is indeed.
Why do I not buy Same-Song products? Because they innovate in nothing. They provide nothing of value. They make you pay for sub-standard products that aren't finished to be the beta tester... They take the "Fly in the window" approach...banging their heads endlessly on the invisible barrier that prevents them from success. Real question is...why do they do it?
Simply put: laziness. It takes a lot of effort and R&D money to bring something like the iEcoSystem out... tons of failures internally...a huge investment and dedication. Atrocious rules as to not leak the products... in a few words, it is excruciating. Takes a long time to get to the money... and there is no guarantee of success... so why not just copy what already works?
Same-Song isn't the only company caught in this trap. many car companies, food distributors, telecom companies...in every sphere of business, there are more companies trying to ride the wave of other companies that are successful. It's too hard to create your own wave. Only a few companies truly innovate.
Innovation isn't about inventing something new. It's about taking a problem and solving it. For example... taking the problem of carrying (back in 2007) a pager, an iPod and a cell phone, an agenda, a contact list and making this available in 1 device that actually works.... NONE of the other inventions were owned by Apple. However Apple was the company that figured out how to make it work. On top of that, they made it beautiful!
The real strength in Apple isn't the inventions... granted they patent a lot of things... some good...most not. It's the ability to make each and every product the best it can be... and whenever they fail (MobileME anyone?)...they admit their mistake and scrap the idea to start again... no fuss, no "you don't understand it!" excuses. Just an honest ... "We failed there...we'll fix it"
Imagine if all companies had this mentality... Imagine that all your products were as thought through as your iPad, iPhone, Mac...
Not everyone would be able to buy certain products... but then again... not everyone needs to have an iPhone 6+ ... Not everyone "needs" a Ferrari either.
Bashers, Haters... just look instead of bashing.. open your minds rather than closing them. If you do not like... fine! don't buy and leave it at that. Not everyone likes Vegemite or Chateaubriand... You can't convince me to not buy the product I want with your bashing...
Envious companies... Innovate, spend in research.. come out with the next great idea. Not just another version of something that already exists & works very well. Your copying only makes people scoff... it is hardly news nowadays. Microsoft has learned a few things since Ballmer's "retirement". Why fight? Why not try and participate in making a platform even better by bringing what you do best? Win for the platform and definitely a potential huge win for you.