Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Corporate, Hardware, Odds and ends
Businessweek puts Apple at top of Most Innovative list
Businessweek has posted a list of what they call the top 50 most innovative companies in 2009, and guess who is sitting right at the top of the list. Sure enough, it's our favorite computer maker -- according to the survey, taken by "senior executives around the world," Apple is number one, and the reason listed by 47% of respondents is the products. Not that surprising, no? From the iPhone to the unibody MacBooks right up to the new Shuffles, Apple's products ooze new concepts and features and ideas.Then again, Microsoft comes in at number four, and Wal-Mart is not far behind at number 10, and I don't know too many non-executives who would call those companies out for being "innovative," necessarily. But then again, both of them are being recognized for their "process," not their actual products. In terms of product, Apple is followed by Nintendo (no arguments there), Blackberry's RIM, and then Nokia.
So maybe Businessweek is just asking the wrong people. At any rate, congrats to Apple for topping the list (for the second year in a row), and we can't wait to see what's new in the next year.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
F said 10:15AM on 5-28-2009
old news
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Quix said 10:30AM on 5-28-2009
My question is: how the heck did Microsoft end up at #4??? Innovative?????
Everything they do is derivative of someone else's work (Windows, Zune, Live Search, Zune, Silverlight, Zune...).
The only thing Microsoft is innovative at is knocking off the work of others and profiting handsomely from it.
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Galley said 11:25AM on 5-28-2009
I guess you could say that "Clippy" was innovative.
applefan360 said 8:23PM on 5-28-2009
true micr$oft sucks!!!!!!!
go apple
Ryan said 12:14PM on 5-28-2009
I'm not an MS fan, But you can't discount the xBox. You have to admit that it is an innovative product. MS took an activity (console gaming) that had been pretty heavily isolated to 1 or 2 people and turned it into a community.
So now you don't need someone with you physically in order to enjoy a game together. You can log-on, find your friends, and play a game - overwriting any physical separation.
I think the ability to blow the head off a zombie with a friend who is 5000 miles away is a pretty innovative idea.
Greg said 2:06PM on 5-28-2009
Well, they do come up with innovative ways to screw over their duped customers pretty well.
... Seriously though, they don't even belong on this list
Jason White said 2:08AM on 5-29-2009
You can't discount windows 7 either... Windows 7 truly has some very innovating features that alot of people are going to like. I mean I love my mac and leopard but I would like some of the window management features of windows 7. I don't know about most people, but I see a resurrection happening at Microsoft. For the past couple of years Microsoft has been so scattered and non-uniformed. Now with the better integration of Live and XBOX Live and the mobile arm of the company, things are starting to improve. Competition breeds creativity. And apple is going to be diving pretty deep in the mobile world pretty soon, because now they have to keep up with palm, and Nokia with the N97 launch, and RIM. I just hope they don't end up letting OSX slide down the priority list.
chrisd said 12:24PM on 5-28-2009
Yeah why did microsoft even appear in the top 20 at all?
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Quix said 12:24PM on 5-28-2009
"I think the ability to blow the head off a zombie with a friend who is 5000 miles away is a pretty innovative idea."
What??? I was doing this LONG before the Xbox appeared. The Xbox is simply a gaming PC in a console form. I fail to see any serious innovation with the Xbox. Maybe their new Mii-like avatars? :)
Rumor is they're even working on their own motion controller to compete with the Wii, the underpowered little console that is destroying the competition.
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Ryan said 1:25PM on 5-28-2009
"What??? I was doing this LONG before the Xbox appeared"
On what might I ask?
Quix said 1:46PM on 5-28-2009
I was doing this on my Mac ages ago. And my PC. You're saying that sticking a joystick on a PC (which is essentially what the Xbox is) qualifies Microsoft as "innovative?"
Please...
I'm not dismissing the Xbox as a product (aside from its epic hardware failure rate), but Microsoft is hardly blazing any new trails with it.
Ryan said 2:19PM on 5-28-2009
I agree that the Xbox is not a "stop the presses" innovation, and that multiplayer gaming has existed long before the 360. But I don't think innovation is necessarily creating something completely original. It is more about taking an existing idea and reworking it in a way that makes it better and more obtainable. I would say even Apple isn't making brand new things all the time. Reinventing the wheel isn't innovation, it is a waste of resources.
What I am saying is that the xbox has taken the idea of muti-player gaming and made it more accessible. I would guess that there are a lot more people partaking in communal gaming now than ever before because of the 360. And lets face it part of that is price. What does it cost to get a gaming PC? The Xbox 360 is currently selling for as low as $199.
So is it as innovative as something like the iPhone? Not really, but I don't think you can brush it off.
My point is that even if we as a community don't really jive with MS products, I can understand why they would make this list.
Rudy said 12:30PM on 5-28-2009
the only great product microsoft has going for them is their amazing xbox 360 platform.
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Quix said 2:16AM on 5-29-2009
Yeah, truly "amazing."
http://venturebeat.com/2008/09/05/xbox-360-defects-an-inside-history-of-microsofts-video-game-console-woes/
:(
Ryan said 2:19PM on 5-28-2009
I agree that the Xbox is not a "stop the presses" innovation, and that multiplayer gaming has existed long before the 360. But I don't think innovation is necessarily creating something completely original. It is more about taking an existing idea and reworking it in a way that makes it better and more obtainable. I would say even Apple isn't making brand new things all the time. Reinventing the wheel isn't innovation, it is a waste of resources.
What I am saying is that the xbox has taken the idea of muti-player gaming and made it more accessible. I would guess that there are a lot more people partaking in communal gaming now than ever before because of the 360. And lets face it part of that is price. What does it cost to get a gaming PC? The Xbox 360 is currently selling for as low as $199.
So is it as innovative as something like the iPhone? Not really, but I don't think you can brush it off.
My point is that even if we as a community don't really jive with MS products, I can understand why they would make this list.
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Ryan said 2:21PM on 5-28-2009
Ignore this comment, it was meant to be a reply @Quix (see above) but it ended up both places... Sorry all!
sam said 2:30PM on 5-28-2009
This is a test of the emergency broadcast system. Please ignore me.
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sam said 2:32PM on 5-28-2009
The fact that Microsoft even made the list renders its claims null. Unless you count buying up innovative companies and ruining their products as "innovative."
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Sean Flanagan said 2:41PM on 5-28-2009
Dear Microsoft haters,
This is an Apple blog, not an anti-Microsoft blog. We can all play nice.
That said, Microsoft isn't generally though of as an innovative company because their high-profile products aren't very innovative. However, they do have a bunch of little projects that certainly are. For all its foibles, the Surface is pretty innovative, and the Windows Live stuff is done quite well, even for experimental services.
If anything, I'm happy that Apple took the top spot and beat out Microsoft, but that's no reason to go questioning why they're up there. I'm more miffed that Toyota is #3. Hell, it's not even the most innovative car company, let alone overall. It isn't innovative anymore to make hybrids. Honda deserves that spot over Toyota just for its advances in fuel cell vehicles and robotics.
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Ryan said 3:04PM on 5-28-2009
Yeah I thought Toyota being on that this was strange too. My guess is it is because it is the success and notoriety of the Prius. What this all probably comes down to is how many of an innovative product you can actually ship.
So advances Honda is making may not count as they are really still just R&D.
Then again I wonder how often "surveys" like this are really just a list of the author's favorite products.