Apple has always been known for disruptive innovation, there was a big question when Steve Jobs stepped down – was it the start of decline of Apple?
The results do not show it slowing down and the momentum keeps going. Its new leadership seems to have level heads over its shoulders – but the big question is can Apple still keep up with innovation? Is the past momentum still fueling growth. Where will the new steam for newer products come from?
Steve Jobs’ dearest ad quote outlines the trait needed to be Apple..
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“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
With Steve Jobs gone, are there enough misfits left in Apple to keep driving the insanity of expecting super human efforts to deliver out of the world products? There are great designers like Jony Ive, there are great supply chain gurus and COOs turned CEO like Tim Cook but the eccentricity of a leader that fires all cylinders is missing. I wonder if the results apple continues to delivery is an outcome of the strong pipeline of products that were already in the hopper. What happens when the pipe dries up?
Incremental or Disruptive?
iPhone, iPod and iPad were disruptive innovations, there is no parallel of something equally good existant. The recent big launches look more incremental than disruptive. iPad retina eye, or iPhone 5 they are a me too better than my brother products, they are not the kind of products we have come to expect of Apple.
Unless Apple continues to bring disruptive products, the incremental innovation is going to dry up soon. What will it mean to the stock price and the hype of the company ? Time will tell.
Sales Leadership or Product Leadership?
As Walter Isaacson outlines in his book, Steve Jobs believed that companies sustain if they come up with great products and company is run by management passionate about products. Once you have great products and company reaches certain size, it is common to see sales leadership take over the management. The suits take over from the geeks. They drive profits till they can squeeze no more.
Is apple going to have the continued focus to sustain product leadership? Will the leadership have the eccentricity to drive engineers to the edge? Or is the new Apple a startup in the making somewhere in Korea, China or India?
In a nutshell, I think Apple is losing its Mojo. Unfortunately the bar is too high for incrementation innovation.
Sunny Awdal is the editor-in-chief of DistilNFO. Sunny can be reached at sunny.adwal@distilnfo.com.
The view expressed in this article are editors views and do not reflect the views of DistilNFO.