Apple is a vastly successful company – but there was a time when it was the butt of every computing joke. How did the company become so successful? Here are some business lessons you can learn from Apple:
1. Specialize. In its dark, less successful years, Apple marketed a wider array of products than it could really manage as a small company. When Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, he vastly streamlined the product offerings. When the product offerings expanded again, they went on to become the best in their fields – iPods and iPhones.
2. Remember the silent majority. Many Apple products faced a great deal of criticism prior to and just after their release, yet they went on to be bestsellers. Although pundits endlessly poked fun at the iPad as being too bulky to be a phone and too small to be a computer, the device went on to become massively popular. Apple’s product history is full of examples like these, so sometimes it’s important to remember that no matter what the people with the media’s ear say, you know your market.
3. The customer comes first. Apple has consistently focused on making the end user experience the best that it can be. As a result, Apple products are known for being visually appealing, and user-friendly. Apple has gained this reputation by recognizing that the user – not the networks or ISPs – comes first.
