5 Principles for Product Success We Can Learn from Apple
by Raj G. Asava, founder and CEO of Asava Consulting, Inc
Summary: The road to success for Apple was not easy; however, success came when - knowingly or unknowingly - Apple locked into the following five principles.
Think about it - why do we like Apple products so much and keep wanting for more from this interesting and innovative company? Now think about James Bond - the character and the movie for which we anxiously await and show up at the box-office for each new installment of action series? While it is exciting to vicariously experience the unbelievable thrills, we also can't wait to discover what Bond's technological enabler, Q, has devised this time around.
There is always that one sequence in the Bond movies where he goes to Q's lab and is surrounded by a variety of quirky products. Bond walks through Q's lab, all the while tampering with the gadgets, and Q desperately tries to avoid setting off a major disaster inside the lab. Q then introduces him to a set of products designed, developed, manufactured, and packaged for his crusades. Isn't that what Apple does to us? Look at the iPad advertisements - at least those till Steve Jobs was at the helm. The hoardings had very few words and the TV ads were teasers which merely scratched the surface of the products' true potential. It got our minds fantasizing about how the product will change our lives, leading us to subliminally believe the product was designed, developed, manufactured, and packaged just for "i", that is us.
Apple, over the years, has become for the general public what Q is to James Bond - the similarities are uncanny! Starting from a simple but innovatively modified attaché case, Q has introduced us to hundreds of new gadgets (from an exploding pen to a remote-controlled submergible automobile) which were made available to a privileged one -- Bond, James Bond.
Apple similarly started with a clunky computer attached to which was an unusual point and click device we so fondly call the mouse. Over the years -- through the introduction of iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch -- Apple has given the world dozens of interesting products, each time creating a "wow" factor, and each time outdoing itself.
The road to success for Apple was not easy; however, success came when - knowingly or unknowingly - Apple locked into the following five principles:
- Create different and differentiated offerings - visualize and bring to life the unthinkable
- Demonstrate its potential - highlight the awesome power packed in little things
- Make it wearable and/or portable - an extension to oneself
- Ready to use out of the box - intuitive and no manuals needed
- Keep inventing - boldly go where no imagination has gone before
Isn't this what Apple follows as it introduces new gadgets (and of late software-based products) to, and for, us?
Mr. Bond, you may have Q but thanks to Apple, we have "I"! And Mr. Cook, we are now so ready for the infamous iCar.
~ Author, Raj G. Asava is the founder and CEO of Asava Consulting, Inc., a management consulting firm focused on creating value, delivering results and enabling growth for its stakeholders. As a veteran strategist, Raj engages with clients - in the public and private sectors - and guides them in the development and operationalizing of their organization's strategy.
