RISE AND FALL OF BRANDS : APPLE INC

Although I had heard about a certain US based computer manufacturer called Apple Computers since my 4^th or 5^th grade, it was not until 1999, when the first iMac was launched that I actively tried to find information about the company and its products. I remember seeing the print ads of brightly coloured iMac computers on some magazine, which fascinated me because personal computers back then were supposed to be white, box shaped devices which did some intelligent calculations, mostly for scientists. The iMac however looked more humane with its bright colours and transparent body. In fact, the iMac looked more like a super toy than a boring PC.

Three year after the launch of iMac, in 2002, Apple redefined the world of music by launching the iPod. The iPod went on to become one of the most iconic products of all times, it elevated Apple from being just an innovative IT company to one of the most respected global brand. And just when we all thought the company had peaked in terms of innovation, Apple did it again. In 2007 Apple ‘reinvented the phone’ with the iPhone. The iPhone together with Apple App Store brought about a revolution of sorts in the smart phone segment. Holding it felt like holding a piece of future, and needless to say customers across the world loved it.

Even as it rode high on the iPhone success, Apple introduced yet another revolutionary product – the iPad in 2010. Critics across the tech world were unkind to the iPad when it was first launched. Most of them felt there was hardly a market for such devices since the same things could be done over an iPhone. It didn’t however take much time for the critics to be proven wrong. People just loved the iPad, so much so that it prompted Google to launch honeycomb, a version of Android developed specially for Tablets. It also gave birth to a whole new Tablet PC industry which didn’t exist until iPad happened. Today, every PC manufacturer worth his name has a Android based Tablet PC offering, the same critics are today busy singing praises for the iPad.

The fan base of Apple grew exponentially in the last decade and so has its stock value, making Apple the most valuable company in the world after Exxon Mobil. It also established Late Steve Jobs as a master strategist and innovator. When I first heard of Job’s success with the iMac, I thought he was just lucky enough to be there at the right time with the right product. But then, he did it again, and again, and again.

The following three paragraphs try to capture the reasons as to why and how Apple became one of the leading brands of our times and what it will need to do to remain there -

     It Filled A Genuine Void – We all know that was the first computer company to launch GUI based PCs. Jobs and his team realized early that the command based operating systems had their limits in terms of user adaptation and to make the PCs popular among the masses they will have to design an OS which creates ease of usage for lay users. It also meant they will have to redefine the purpose for which a PC is required and expand its scope to cover a number of tasks which interest people but was unavailable on the PC due to its OS limitations. The Macintosh computers from Apple successfully bridged this gap for the first time and were therefore instantly successful.

From Macintosh to the latest iPad every Apple product has filled up some void in the customer’s lives in a very fundamental way. Where ever the company has launched products which didn’t conform to this rule, the products have met with failure.

     Sticking with its Core Philosophy -  Apple from the start was meant to be a hardware + software company i.e. it believed in catering to the entire user experience and not just part of it. Soon after the Macintosh success, Apple entered a period where its hardware + software model created constraints in its capacity to quickly grab Marketshare. Moreover competitors like Microsoft copied the Macintosh and launched Windows OS platform based on a licensing model. Since, Microsoft only had to concentrate on developing the OS software and license them to hardware manufacturers across the world, they were able to churn out new versions of record time and quickly grabbed a significant marketshare. The management at Apple too wanted to adopt the licensing model, a move which was opposed by Jobs leading to his ouster from the company in 1985. Apple followed Microsoft and fared miserably, leading to further penetration of windows. By 1995 Apple was totally directionless which prompted the move by Apple executives to bring Jobs back.

A mid stream change in brand philosophy confuses the market and invites it wrath. Such moves should be made only when it absolutely makes sense. In the case of Apple it didn’t, because Apple from day one was supposed to be a company which provides computers with best overall experience.

It is also important that the key executive responsible for driving the corporate philosophy is retained by the organization for a long enough period to avoid inconsistency arising out of misinterpretation of organizational philosophy. Apple has a huge challenge ahead, since after Jobs death it has to find a capable person to drive its philosophy.

     Stood for a Cause And Pursued It Relentlessly: Apple has always stood for excellence in product quality and user experience. The reason why Apple products are so much in demand is because Apple has never compromised quality in order to reduce the time to market for its products. It also tries to expand the scope of its product lines by adding a slew of new innovations in each of the upgrade versions. It is important to note here that Apple products do not necessarily offer the best product specs, it is the experience that Apple delivers to the user within the given specs which differentiates it from its competitors.

Apple today stands at the same point where it stood in 1985. Competition, read Google, has largely matched its OS standards for the iPhone and iPad. The licensed versus proprietary software debate is again on, only this time it is in context of phone OS and tablet OS instead of PC OS. In addition to this there is no Steve Jobs to protect the core values that he had so painstakingly built. Without him the possibility of new management giving in to market pressures and doing something stupid like reducing price, licensing the phone and tablet OS, or worse launching half baked products is always there. The test for Apple now would be to prove it has the management depth to take itself to a new level, that it can survive without Jobs.

YF-IThink