Strategy equals success

I am not a Machead by any circumstance, but Apple happens to do some great things. The strategy and foresight that comes out of Steve Jobs and Co. is brilliant. Apple garners billions of PR impressions and buzz with every announcement they make (and all the rumors that surround future product announcements). While that is fantastic for them, it really doesn’t change the products themselves. From iPods to MacBooks and the AppleTV, though the buzz drives sales it does not have any effect on the products themselves. The product development begins years ahead of the announcement, all attached to a very tight, well thought out, company vision and product road map.Not buying it? Give this a thought: Apple releases a SDK (software development kit) for the iPhone, yup the same iPhone that is driven via iTunes, this SDK includes (staying away from the technical side) a brand new application store that will be the “exclusive” distribution method for the upcoming applications. Just how the iPod and iTunes are in bed together the iPhone and iPod touch are now in bed with the App Store. Let’s not underestimate the power of this advancement, there are going to be thousands of apps — don’t believe me, why would a V.C. fund create a $100,000,000 iFund to fund these projects if some really smart/tied-in people didn’t believe that iPhone apps were not the next big thing. So big deal, who cares, right? Wrong. If you step back and see that the iTunes store, and now the Apps Store, are created to drive Apple product development then you can see how important this advancement is.

Let me back up.

• Back in 2001 Apple released the first iPod along with iTunes.
• By 2002 Apple expanded the iPod and iTunes beyond Macs and included PCs
• 2004 brought color support to the iPod along with photo support
• By 2005 the iPod classic supported video (this later came to the Nano in 2007). Concurrently Apple added video to iTunes in 2005 and followed with full length movies in 2006
• By January 2008 Apple introduced movie rentals, the Apple TV take 2, and the MacBook Air

Looking at these last two bullet points you see the strategy shining through. These weren’t thought up in the last minute, I can guarantee that movie rentals came about back in 2005/2006. So what took so long, why wait 2 years to release them? Strategy. By tying the hardware to the software people are “forced” to buy both. The Apple TV, though the least successful Apple product, hinges on the fact that you can download movies and watch them in your living room. And if you don’t have time to finish the movie you can watch it our your iPhone/iPod touch. Worried about movies piling up and taking up too much space, no worries, they wipe clean after 30 days. Hmm, now Apple starts to create a system/regimen for consumers. Then you throw in the Mac line (Air/MacBook/MacBook Pro/iMac/Mac mini) and you see that the software is flawless across platforms. Your content picks up where you are, the devices look alike (driving brand recognition), and if are worried that your MacBook air doesn’t have a drive, don’t — you can burn CDs/DVDs via other computers with drives.

I could continue to go on and show you every detail of the Apple strategy but I’ll leave it here. It is important to realize that that strategy is what is driving their product releases, feature upgrades, and business growth but this does not mean that the strategy always benefits the consumer. There wouldn’t have been very many people complaining about the MacBook Air having a disc drive, for another .1 oz in weight, but then you wouldn’t need to rent movies from iTunes, now would you. When the strategy is crystal clear, business can actually drive the consumer purchase decisions and mindset, as opposed to consumer’s wants and need driving the company. It is a rather audacious/risky move but when you have that strategy down pat, you are sure to win every way around.