Where Will Apple Go from Here?

1073 words | 4 page(s)

The Apple, Inc. of today is one of sharp contrast to the one founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Roland Wayne in 1976. Since the passing of perhaps the most influential of these three founders, Steve Jobs, the company has undergone a tremendous shift. Apple’s status as an innovator and game-changer has dissipated to a somewhat significant extent, as the world has come to find that Jobs was the company’s key visionary in that regard. Austin Carr argues that Jobs’ legacy has come to “haunt” the company, as confidence in the company’s capabilities have slumped among shareholders and the general public following his passing (Carr, 2013, p. 38). Under the leadership of Jobs’ replacement, Tim Cook, there now exists a degree of uncertainty in terms of where Apple is headed going forward. So long as the company retains a competitive advantage in the marketplace and reacquires its status as a leading innovator in the tech industry sometime in the near future, it is fair to assume that Apple can and will maintain its place in the market.

In the era of Apple under CEO Steve Jobs, Apple had retained its top spot as a competitor in the tech industry via incremental innovation (Carr, 2013, p.36). The company developed a system of consistency, releasing a refreshment of its product lines on an annual basis in most cases, typically throwing a single brand new product or service into the mix as a means of catering to the public’s desire for something entirely different (Carr, 2013, p. 36). Jobs’ legacy was also one of simplicity in Apple products and services, innovating in a way that made all of Apple’s offerings work together and independently so seamlessly (Keller, 2017, p. 633). The post-Jobs era of Apple has unfortunately seen a decline in this pattern, with its product refreshes showing only minor changes and improvements and the release of brand new products and services being few and far between (Mossberg, 2016). As such, Apple’s competitors have been catching up and in many cases surpassing the company in terms of innovation and adapting to the latest advances in technology, marking the potential future in which Apple may become the one to catch up with the latest trends and releases. Apple’s model under Jobs was one that allowed it to always remain ahead of the competition by flooding the market with truly substantive changes to its products and services. In doing so, it has established a reputation that the public has expected for the company to continue living up to.

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As Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Jaffray has characterized the recent turn of events, “Apple has become a victim of its own success” (Carr, 2013, p. 38). By setting consumers and shareholders up with high expectations through a significant period in which Apple had adhered to those expectations and established a superb reputation for itself as a tech leader, the company also inadvertently set itself up to significant consequences for failing to maintain that reputation. The development and release of key products in Apple’s catalog, such as the iPod in 2001 and the iPhone in 2007, were the primary mechanisms of allowing Apple to later become victims of its own success (Keller, 2017, p. 633). Considering that the company has failed to release any products or services that have garnered the same level of praise and public interest as when Apple unveiled the iPod and the iPhone, the truth behind Jobs’ prominent role in the company’s success became ever clearer. In some sense, the company has attempted to reinvent itself by focusing more so on competing with more “premium” quality iterations of the status quo in tech, which has defied the very nature of the company as it has existed throughout the late Jobs era. Whether this will continue and will represent a beneficial strategy for Apple into the future remains to be seen, and greatly depends on the paths taken by its strongest competitors.

Carr presents two paths that Apple may take from here: “defy the odds and retain its sorcerer’s hat” or “settle down into a life more ordinary” (Carr, 2013, p. 38). The first path would ultimately require the recruitment of a new visionary at the upper levels of the company, something which current CEO Tim Cook has thus far proven himself not to be (Mossberg, 2016). Despite Cook’s adequacy as the company’s new leader, his role in inspiring the development of innovative new Apple products and services has been tremendously lackluster (Mossberg, 2016). If Apple continues down the path of incremental and insignificant upgrades to its existing products without showcasing its ability to innovate, the company would seem doomed to the second of Carr’s outlined paths. Such a prospect is not necessarily a predictor of the company’s downfall or death, although it would mean for Apple to join the likes of the majority of others within the industry and do away with the unique reputation that Apple has established and maintained for so long. Apple has never been an “ordinary” tech company, and it is difficult to imagine such a label suiting the company well.

Apple has remained at the forefront of technology in recent years because it has managed to revolutionize not only computer hardware and software, but consumer electronics in general. Through the release of products like the iPod, iPhone, and even the Apple Watch, Apple has shown a demonstrable interest in leading through innovation and forcing competitors to join in creating a path for consumer-grade technology’s continued advancement. Austin Carr has made an important point in recognizing that the company has undergone a noteworthy change in the wake of Steve Jobs’ untimely death. The greater point made, however, is that this change does not have to mean an end for Apple’s reign nor does it mean the company is doomed to lose its way as a revolutionary in the tech industry. The company is more than capable of continuing down a path of effective leadership and dominance despite the significant challenges it faces in keeping up with the demands of consumers and the innovations and product releases of its competitors.

    References
  • Carr, A. (2013). What you don’t know about Apple. Fast Company, 174, 35-38. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  • Keller, J. (2017). New opera in Santa Fe: The (r)evolution of Steve Jobs. The Hopkins Review, 10(4), 633-636. doi:10.1353/thr.2017.0119
  • Mossberg, W. (2016, August 31). Mossberg: The post-Jobs Apple has soared financially, but lacks a breakthrough product. Retrieved February 24, 2018, from https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/31/12717412/mossberg-apple-steve-jobs-tim-cook-game-changer-products

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