Adam Collins' Tumblelog
Sit Back, Relax, and Enjoy the Ride
Apple’s level of success and customer adoration has created a fair amount of discomfort. As a technology steamliner, Apple is setting a record pace on the journey from one island of technologies (fixed, wired, physical media, isolated, expandable, hackable, moving parts, keyboard & mouse, open market) to another (mobile, wireless, media-less, connected, sealed appliance, “just works,” touchscreen, curated market). Investors of the old island are in a state of denial, shock, or panic. Some consumers are afraid of being taken advantage of, or worse, being left behind. Change can be frightening.
Many customers can’t get enough, though, and every new Apple product announcement precedes a torrent of press coverage and eager anticipation. It’s been at least a year since the idea of a “Steve Jobs reality distortion field” has been a viable rationalization for Apple’s success. Nearly everyone knows someone who has or wants an OSX or iOS device.
Critics of Apple often sidestep or underplay the most telling set of statistics for Apple’s success: satisfaction survey results. Apple consistently beats (often by a wide margin) its competitors on customer satisfaction surveys. This isn’t an accident or a manipulation of customer perception. Apple products and services are consistently high in quality, functionality, and aesthetics.
iTunes, iPod, iPhone, iPad, MacBook (Pro, Air), iMac, AppStore. Any could have been a success under the control of another tech giant, but all have been successes with Apple. Even the “dud,” the original AppleTV, has been reborn into a $99 home theater sleeper agent. What the iPhone has been to smartphones, what the iPad has been to tablets, what OSX has been for the PC users, the new AppleTV may well be to the home theater. Find another engineering company that has so purposefully and skillfully aligned their technology, services, product lineup, and marketing, especially on a multi-billion dollar scale. There are none.
Even more important than the financial and customer satisfaction success of Apple, though, is the continuous push for improvement. Smaller, faster, tougher, more powerful, more reliable, more satisfying. On and on. Four years ago, the world hadn’t seen an iPhone. If Apple keeps this up, what can an Apple customer of 2014 expect to buy for $199? My guess is that not even Apple could answer that question today. Amazing.
When this sustained confluence of vision, engineering, design, innovation, success, and satisfaction comes together, as it has for Apple, I think it’s important to step back and see it for what it is: This is Apple’s Golden Age. It’s that rare time for an even rarer company when amazing things happen, that could only happen from the leader, at an astonishing rate.
Will it last forever? Goodness no. How long will it last? Who can say. Regardless, I highly recommend that you sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. You’ll enjoy yourself more right now, appreciate it for what it is, and remember it more fondly when it’s over.
