Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

I love Apple - not only is their computer technology more secure and easier to use - they just make it fun to work. And, while I wasn’t looking, the world has seemingly been taken over by iPods - people of all ages are addicted to them. All that said, I’ve never thought of Apple as doing systematic strategic planning. Hmmm - maybe I’m wrong.

From Harvard Business Review’s Behind Apple’s Strategy - Be Second to Market

…Despite this seeming disadvantage [others being first in markets], Apple has managed to lead these markets because it has been able to initiate several new-market disruptions in music and computing, including iTunes, iMovie, and GarageBand, the company’s eighteen-month-old music-editing software suite.

In each case, Apple reached consumers unavailable to its predecessors though the virtues of good design, ease of use, clever marketing, and smart distribution. All these efforts were aimed at making sure potential customers understood the substantial differences between the first-to-market technologies that preceded GarageBand and the appealing, thoughtful technologies that Apple’s product offers to attract inexperienced consumers.

Key here is in the second paragraph - Apple didn’t just do “cool” design - they did good design and, they combine with ease of use, clever marketing and smart distribution. Good example, at least as described in this article, of thinking with both the left and right sides of the brain.