How Apple Succeeds in an Amazon World?
Source: John Martellaro
In a world that seems relentlessly focused on buying things, with Amazon's help, Apple not only succeeds outside of Amazon's sphere, it thrives. Just exactly how does Apple do that and what does it mean for the future of both companies?
I remember a famous story about the early days of personal computing and Steve Jobs. Back in the 1970s, one had to be particularly astute about computer technology to get one up and running at home. The Homebrew Computer Club brought together tech geeks who had the know-how to build a personal computer from parts and do something reasonably useful with it. Or perhaps revel in the joy of it just working.
Steve Jobs instinctively knew that there would come to be a market for home computers, but only if they became enormously easier to use. If I remember his quote correctly, it was something like, "There's no user's group for Maytag washing machines."
That was his way of saying that a personal computer needed to become an appliance in order to become a commercial success, and that drove his vision of the Apple II and then the Macintosh.
The ironic thing about all this is that, as our technology has progressed and become orders of magnitude more complex in the last 40 years, we're back to the point where learning and personal assistance are even more critical to our success and well being.
No one can possibly understand the totality of their iPhone, OS X, iTunes, Apple Music and the myriad of things that can go wrong. There's decent money to be made in helping everyday customers understand their equipment, either through books, video tutorials, how-to articles or one-on-one training.
As the high tech giants work harder and harder to seduce us into their ecosystem and keep us there, every purchase decision has import. Wading through the interconnections in our technical lives has become nearly a full time job. Consumers who don't pay attention and don't continue to learn and grow either become hopelessly left behind or get into monstrous technical troubles. Nothing in technology is really as simple as the tech giants want us to believe. That explains why kids, relieved of adult burdens, seem so darn smart about their iPhones.
Apple has learned that. Apple's retail stores and personnel help customers with important buying decisions. They're friendly and helpful. If just pushing goods, like laundry detergent, Blu-ray discs or Ethernet cables were important, Apple could have decided to compete with Amazon on those grounds. But they do not.
By and by, it seems, Best Buy finally learned this lesson as well.
In fact, there was a time, not long ago, when Best Buy was in serious trouble. The company looked headed for the same fate as Circuit City, CompUSA and RadioShack. How did the company turn things around? It turns out to be not just one factor, but getting more involved with Apple and learning from Apple certainly helped. As mentioned above, learning how to compete against Amazon has been another. Here's the diagnosis: "Is Best Buy's turnaround a roadmap for competing with Amazon?"
And that's how, despite the hard work Apple puts into making hard things easy, we still need community, friendship, social networks, guidance, training and learning to succeed in this very technical society.
That goes a long way toward explaining why Amazon's Fire Phone failed, why it was just too creepy and why Apple's iPhone just keeps on soaring.
| }
|