The secret of Apple's success

"forcing users to USB. They said the lack of peripherals would kill it, that the public wasn't ready to move away from the serial bus, etc."

Yeah but at the same time Apple were going USB PC equipment was rapidly becoming available in dual-connectivity form (ie. parallel+USB ports on printers and scanners), and PCs had been coming with USB ports for a couple of years. Apple tried that trick with SCSI and look where that is now. USB took off because it is a universal standard, developed by a group of manufacturers, and put in place by many of them. Apple made sure they were well and truely on that bandwagon, and because they are a closed shop for most Apple hardware were able to roll it out faster than the much larger PC industry

It's a known fact that Apple does a TON of market research. Whenever Steve has answered a question by saying "The market does/doesn't..." then he is basing that statement on marketing research -- including focus groups.

Good, solid market research is actually what sustains Apple -- not the opposite.

Apple "just getting it" is Apple doing a ton of marketing research to understand it. It's not magic.

Apple is successful because they dare to think different.

"the assumption that ANY company is made successful by pushing ahead forcefully with the hopes that something will succeed (maybe?) with no basis in reality would crush any company (with the possible exception of Microsoft)."

Well, except for when Apple introduced the original iMac with NO floppy drive, and nothing but some funny thing called USB for expansion. The pundits said it was a crazy move, and that Apple was "pushing ahead forcefully" by declaring the floppy dead and forcing users to USB. They said the lack of peripherals would kill it, that the public wasn't ready to move away from the serial bus, etc.

I don't think that strategy crushed Apple at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I don't think ignoring consumer preference is Apple's key to success at all. This sort of idea smacks of Apple Cultdom; the assumption that ANY company is made successful by pushing ahead forcefully with the hopes that something will succeed (maybe?) with no basis in reality would crush any company (with the possible exception of Microsoft).

Apple's success lies in their products' qualities, and the way those qualities are transmitted in their brand. The very culture that breeds blogs like this one - and statements like "I think the key is, simply, fearlessness" - is exactly what makes them successful.

And any marketing exec will tell you that the high price tag also helps with the image of quality.

One of Apple's finest arts is their marketing and model spec/price points. Apple's advertising is all very simple and always straight to the point. You always, always know exactly what you're being sold. Plus many Apple products seem to exist on three broad levels, there's the super nice stuff, like the 24" iMac, but which is really expensive. Then there's the low price option, like the 1.8Ghz iMac, which is good but you know you'd always regret not going for the next model up. Then in the middle you have something that errs towards pricey, but the upgraded specs are enough to show that its a good deal. Thats how Apple stay well in the black, by selling mostly in the mid and high range

I totally agree. That leads to the fact that apple notices where other companies have failed and totally build on their failures in a way that just makes people love their products. Look at me, I have a full set of macs of my own...and that's after being a PC buff for 17 years.

Blogs loke TUAW, of course. I guess having well thought out products that look great don't hurt either.

Ben, read your blog. Or scanned through it, to be honest. You seem to equate fearlessness with recklessness. On the other hand, McNulty appears to mean daring and audacious when he says Apple is fearless.

Apple is daring and audacious but not reckless. Both of you are right.

Todd: What features has Microsoft added to Windows XP in the last 5 years? A pop-up blocker for IE?! A piece of software that tells you your windows version is illegal?

Microsoft don't add features to their products for free, they fix issues for free (as they should). I can't think of any "free" features that weren't really fixing security issues that have been released for windows.