It’s been seven years since we’ve lost Steve Jobs. Seven years since one of the greatest entrepreneurial minds the world has known departed. In that time, Apple has been under great scrutiny and speculation on if it could keep up in the absence of it’s mastermind. My answer is yes, but in different ways than what you might of imagined.
Apple, and many companies like it, started in a brilliant and young time. Thought of to be a long time competitor to Apple, Microsoft began only a year before in 1975. The world, and technology as we knew it, was very different back then. Many of the innovations and gadget revolutions for the daily consumer would be sired by the previously mentioned companies.
It was at this time a certain type of person was in demand. One who had an eye for public wants, design, innovation, and thinking outside of the box. And as demand usually meets supply, Steve Jobs rose to the top. He was exactly the right type of person the market needed at the time. With Steve at Apple’s helm, fantastic products were introduced. The personal Mac computer, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad. Words that are ingrained in our culture. But the innovation cycle doesn’t last forever.
We’ve entered a time where the amount of new gizmos and tech that you can add to your pocket is shrinking. Yes, cool stuff comes out all the time, and yes, innovation is still happening. However, new things compared to the iPhone and iPad aren’t making nearly the amount of shock waves throughout the industry. When Tim Cook took the mast, many declared that he didn’t have the same innovative mind as Steve Jobs.
And they were right, he didn’t. But he is a damn good businessman. Apple is great at a few key things. Their lineup is all encompassing and synergistic with each other. We’ve coined a term for how well Apple devices work with each other: ecosystem. Ignoring how expensive these things can get; if you acquire an all Apple lineup of a PC, phone, perhaps watch or home speaker, your things will work almost magically with one another.
Another thing Apple has gotten right is product design. It's another perk to help justify some high prices. Their build quality and attention to detail has given them tons of fame before. With these two qualities as mere examples, Apple has been able to build a solid and very strong lineup - especially one that works so well paired together.
They’ll get you to buy an iPhone. Mostly, it isn’t astronomical in price and readily acquired by the masses. Perhaps you use iPads for school, so you decide to get one for yourself. Headphones? Beats are seamlessly integrated into pairing and Bluetooth via the W2 chip. Computer? You’re already in the ecosystem…
Tim Cook hasn’t been creating countless, innovative products to spur them on to new journeys. What he has done is solidify the lineup, tighten the integration, and make buying into the Apple system as sweet as pie. Sure, some of their computers don’t have as great specifications as they could for the exorbitant price.
Sure, their phones are a little bit more limited compared to Android. But are they going in a bad direction as a company? No. They’re on the fast track to becoming the first trillion dollar valued business. A lot of people have tried to give Apple the death sentence in the past few years, but all I see is them going up.
