In the past few years, Apple's development process has been like the launch process of a space rocket - a series of rapid, close and orderly explosions and then soaring into the sky. Apple itself, its leaders and its products have become a cultural lingua franca. Dell wants to become Apple in the business field, and Zipcar also wants to become Apple in the car rental field. The theater actor Bill Maher even said that if the president of Apple becomes president, the government will be able to provide better services. How can a company or individual become the “Apple of X”? After talking to former Apple employees, current partners, and other professionals who have long followed Apple, we can clearly see the answer to this question, and they revolve around the following ten key factors. 1. Unconventional When leading the Apple work team to design products in the 1980s, Stephen Jobs often personally guided the engineers on the question of "what a laptop should look like." “Once he saw an unusually beautiful kitchenware in a department store,” Andy Herzfeld said. “Then he asked the designer to design the notebook to look like what he saw.” “Another time he asked the designer to make the notebook look like what he saw.” The product is designed to look like a Porsche.” Andy Herzfeld is one of Apple's founding engineers and the author of "Revolution in Silicon Valley: The Great History of Apple's Growth." Computers should look more like sports cars and kitchen appliances, and Apple's followers are precisely the high-end crowd - those who have bought or will buy Porsches. Obviously, it is difficult to attract them just by following the market trends in Silicon Valley, through technical experts or other cliché designs. The magic of Apple lies precisely in its own research to attract its target customers unconventionally. 2. Beyond the conventional technology experts generally believe that open source code is the general trend and embodies the principle of maximum sharing. In this context, Apple is seen as slightly closed. But in Apple's philosophy, closure and freedom do not conflict. "We are doing everything we can to give users the desired experience," Jobs wrote in an email to Ryan Tate. Previously, Lane criticized Apple in his blog for banning the use of Flash technology on iPhones and iPads. "You may disagree with us, but our motives are pure," Jobs wrote. "The reason for banning this technology is because the Apple Store provides too much freedom. You can buy programs that steal personal privacy, and you can also buy programs that destroy people." Even so, programmers have long complained that the Apple Store is too insular, arguing that it has a dictatorial approach to designing apps. That is to say, the problem is not that it is closed, but that it is arbitrary, hidden, and frequently changing in formulating rules. If Apple could relax its transparency, it could avoid most of these controversies. But fundamentally, Apple doesn't care about controversy. Although criticism continues, the Apple Store has been a huge success, and even its detractors have to admit that it is extremely convenient and fun. 3. Say No to Complexity "No" may have been the primary role Jobs played at Apple. "He's really a filter," said Hertzfeld, an Apple computer engineer. Every day designers would come to Jobs with ideas for new products and features for existing products, and his response was almost always no. "I'm as proud of the products we didn't make as I am of the products we made," Jobs said in a 2004 interview. The reason why Jobs refused was not only due to his consistent aversion to complex designs, but also cost considerations and creating an expectation effect. Saying no to some complex designs can lower costs, and reducing some product features can also create expectations. "Deliberately ignoring a product feature that people want to have will stimulate people's desire for it." said Red, a former Apple engineer. "When you add this feature to a new version and users get what they want, then Much happier." Apple has used this strategy over and over again, with the latest example being iPhone OS 4, which added multitasking capabilities. In fact, users have been requesting this feature since 2007. Let’s look at the iPad again. Is it really impossible to add a camera device? 4. Serve Customers No matter how good your product is, it will always have problems. In recent years, in the notebook and mobile phone fields, most of Apple's competitors have adopted strategies of avoiding customers rather than serving them. They closed their customer service departments and outsourced the business to call centers staffed by low-wage employees. They even require customers to go online to find answers to frequently asked questions. Twenty years ago, when Apple formulated its retail strategy, it made it clear that its overriding priority was to create a retail store where customers would not associate it with the computer industry. They strive to create a friendly atmosphere in the store similar to the lobby of a Four Seasons hotel. G eniusB ar is the representative. The staff at GeniusBar will diagnose every Apple product for you, no matter where you bought it. The company does not charge any fees for the above services unless the shelf life has expired. Why is Apple so generous? "Sometimes customers come in looking for help but leave with a new product," said Del, who previously worked at Genius Bar.

" 5. Ignore opinions. Jobs often quoted Henry Ford's famous saying on various occasions: "If I ask customers what they want, they always say 'a faster horse! '" Jobs used this sentence to illustrate Apple's philosophy that people don't anticipate what they really need. Customers will tell you a lot of things they need, but when you make it according to their intentions , this is not what they want. It is not easy to visualize something that does not yet exist. But Jobs does not regard customer feedback as nothing. He regards it as inspiration, not direction. It's a method, not a result. So Apple can always launch new products that can meet customer needs and exceed customer imagination. 6. Marketing everywhere is just like Genius Bar, which has been proven to be a genius idea and is now popular all over the world. The slogan "think differently" has also proven to be true, because Apple fans do think differently. Fans are as loyal to Apple as Christians are to Jesus. Apple's brand is so powerful and valid. So attractive that for some people, Apple has become a religion. Apple uses a series of subtle ways to cultivate fans' religious enthusiasm for the Apple brand, including exaggerating the mystery of its products. The most important way is to strengthen the symbolic meaning of Apple products, and the most effective marketing strategy is rooted in the product itself. Apple uses a combination of colors, sounds, shapes and other elements to build a clear brand image. Its brand image is deeply rooted in people's hearts. This is especially obvious when Apple launches new products. Through a series of unified and coordinated steps, Apple mobilizes the public's appetite and attracts more people's attention. It will release information or new products that have been prepared for a long time. 7. Innovate. If one day Apple launches a computer without a desktop, please don't be surprised. Is it just a fantasy? ? Absolutely not, these will be included in Apple's patent application documents. Although we have not yet seen these products, we should not doubt Apple's ability to innovate. In fact, no company is as frequent as Apple in its field. In just the past few years, Apple has made significant innovations in the production process of its notebook computers. This is also the fastest and largest undertaking in the field of notebook production and design. Innovation, no other company except Apple has done this. Apple completely ignores the concept of compatibility emphasized in the IT field. This is both a blessing and a curse for competitors such as Microsoft. It has adopted new operating systems and new chip structures several times, and these decisions have always made its original production and assembly base immediately obsolete. Apple has always denied the unreasonableness and shortcomings of past designs, and has continued to deny them. Introduce new products from the old, so that their products can always stand proudly at the forefront of the times with a unique style. 8. Appropriate "dictatorship" In 2000, as the operations manager of Apple's Astartes US business division, Mike Evangelist was responsible for DVD burning. Technology research and development will install this DVD on high-end computers and convert it into iDVD in the future. The project interface presents a variety of windows and menu options, as well as large sections of functional explanation text. “Jobs walked in,” Evangelist recalled, “and instead of looking at our work, he drew a box on the whiteboard.” “This is the new design,” Jobs said. “Just a window. , push the audio and video material into the window, and then click a button called play, which is what we want. ""Everyone was stunned," Evangelist said, this style is very different from the company he worked for before. The technology field pursues innovation that is inclusive, thorough, and pools the wisdom of the masses. Apple engineers, on the other hand, spend 100% of their time designing products planned by a small group of senior managers or by Jobs alone. There are so few people with the power to make decisions that Apple can only launch one or two innovative products a year. 9. Reinvention "Revolutionary" is one of Steve Jobs's favorite words. He highly praised Apple's every invention and creation as unique and creative. Whether Apple's products are revolutionary or not depends on our definition of the word revolutionary. Apple is good at collecting the latest ideas in the field of technology and turning them into its own. Apple is good at discovering problems and shortcomings in other similar products, and solving the above problems and deficiencies in the products it launches, or improving and innovating other similar products on the shelves under Apple's model. The iPad is a prime example. As early as 2001, Bill Gates launched a product based on the Windows operating system with almost the same functions. However, at that time, there were many problems that needed to be solved in terms of interactive interface and application software development, and Microsoft did not Keep at it. Jobs found that based on Apple's existing technology, the above problems were not a problem, so the iPad was born. In the first two months after its launch, the iPad sold 2 million units. 10. Methodical Within weeks of the iPad's launch, HP, Microsoft and other companies were delaying the release of similar products. They are trying to create products that are more sophisticated and feature-rich than the iPad.

They were working on creating their own version of the Fast Horse, so they delayed the launch and went back to the design studio. At the same time, Apple's other competitors such as Google, Intel, etc. are also rapidly lining up in this field. Apple has not been hampered by this competitive situation and has strictly adhered to its own schedule. Apple's timetable is strictly based on its own business strategy and long-term vision goals. It is slightly affected by market trends and competitor conditions. In this way, Apple can always take the initiative and launch some new products in a timely manner. Seize the market opportunity.