INNOVATORS ASSIGNMENT

APPLE WRITE-UP

SUBMITTED BY ROLL NO. SECTION SUBMITTED TO

SRIPRAKASH PG20112085 E Ms Rakhi Singh

DESIGN THINKING AND INNOVATION AT APPLE

Apple, which is now a leader in its segment of offerings, came into existence in 1976 with Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne being the spearhead founders. For innovation to happen invention needs to happen and thats what Apple believed in. Inventing newer and better technological advancements and continuously improving upon them, providing an everlasting experience to people. It changed the way people looked upon to phones, music and multimedia experience. Apples success comes largely from its fearlessness to experiment outside its segment and creative vision. For all these things to happen, it was always important to ensure that the organization culture, company goals and the individual values are in sync with each other, which applies to Apple completely. Apple has its knack for creating a new market, instead of entering an already established market. This is due to its in-house creative talent, and their capabilities of thinking out of box. In short, Apple has built an organization where emphasis is laid on freedom of doing work the way you want and being spontaneous. Apple is now renowned as one of the top most organizations dealing in designing and integrating software and hardware. Apart from new and innovative products, it came up with newer business models like setting up its own retail outlets which gave it a larger space in music, mobiles and multimedia segment. Earlier, computer and other computer peripherals were considered to be used in offices and such sophisticated places, and can be handled only by specialists. The ideology of computers being used for individual work was un-imaginable. But Steve Jobs did the un-thinkable. He focussed on identifying what a customer required and how they would interact with the devices, laying equal emphasis on complementary activities like packaging as well. At Apple, innovation, product development, and execution have been the key focus areas. When IBM entered the market, its machines lacked simplicity. In contrast, Apple was essentially developed from scratch and featured a proprietary operating system and unique hardware. They brought out the Macintosh in conjunction with a Super Bowl advertisement which remains a stunning feat of promotion. Apple faced a massive competition from rapid changes in technology and an explosion in venture capital driven investment that fueled new competitors, grappled with questions on which markets to target and what products to produce.

The open source movement has been mostly ignored by people. The company insists on developing and integrating, its own hardware and software. It has announced that they will be designing its own chips for iPods, i-phones and I-pads, a backward integration. The company attacks websites that dare to speculate on what the company is planning. Apple has opened up to outside developer communities and has invented the App store along with the other stores it set up. Few apps have been developed by apple employees. Apple routinely pulls off the miraculous unveiling revolutionary products that have been kept completely secret until they magically appear in stores all over the world. When Steve jobs took medical leave, apple continued to launch products and deliver impressive financial results. Another integral factor of Apples innovation management is their platform strategy. They develop not only what would be needed for the initial product release, but also what would be required subsequently. By using these platforms, new products can be developed and ramped up more quickly because of their usability of existing design elements. This also results in a commonality of user interfaces, consequently decreasing the initial training effort for customers. Furthermore, Apple follows an evolutionary strategy. Once the customer has set up his music library for his iPod, it can be easily used on the i-Phone as well. The same accounts for apps, which are compatible with the iPod Touch, all generations of the iPhone and the i-Pad. In 2008, Apple took to the top position in the Business Weeks ranking of the worlds 50 most innovative companies. These and many more such innovative ideas, products services are looked upon in future from the huge worldwide giant Apple.