Apple’s Innovation - disruption from reinvention and details - THE WAVES (2024)

FAQs

What is the disruptive innovation of Apple? ›

Examples of Apple's disruptive innovations include MacIntosh, iPod, and iPhone. However, evidence suggests, Apple's innovation successes are not entirely due to Steve Jobs' art of mental model.

The fifth industry the iPhone has disrupted has been taxi and personalized hired transportation. The iPhone has birthed services like Uber, Lyft, and others that have turned this industry upside down. It woke up the stagnant taxi market and made hiring a personal ride easy and efficient.

It created a huge demand for technological change and the rise of smartphone innovation. The iPhone made brands such as Nokia, Motorola and Sony obsolete thus disrupting existing industries causing demand for the companies products to radically decrease or put an end to demand altogether.

iTunes disrupted the music chain in which people bought and had access to music. This add-on service became one of the most celebrated innovations Apple gave to the music industry. Though iPod may have seen its golden era and is obsolete now, iTunes still manages to bring billions in revenue for the tech giant.

People using smartphones instead of laptops and desktops for their computing needs, including web browsing and streaming, is another example of disruptive innovation. Technological enhancements have enabled cell phones to be equipped with small processors, chips, and software applications that support these functions.

Despite its dominance in the space of mobile devices and computing, the company does face some key challenges. Among these weaknesses are its highly-priced products, entering areas of higher competition, and incompatibility with other software.

Apple iPhone 6, Newton, U2 iPod, Apple III, FireWire, Lisa, Homepod were some of the biggest failures of Apple.

Apple faces increasing costs from global logistics and rising employee salaries, as well the possibility that consumers will put off their iPhone upgrades. China shutdowns this year tied to Covid-19 and other challenges could result in an $8 billion revenue hit.

In fact, the iPhone is considered both radical and disruptive since it addresses customer needs (it's a phone, but better) and shakes up the industry (offering internet access on a mobile device was previously unheard of).

What causes disruptive innovation? ›

Disruptive Innovation. Disruptive Innovation describes a process by which a product or service initially takes root in simple applications at the bottom of a market—typically by being less expensive and more accessible—and then relentlessly moves upmarket, eventually displacing established competitors.

iPhone: The First Modern Smartphone (2007)

The iPhone created a revolution in mobile technology. It was one of the first devices that you could use to surf the real internet, anywhere. It was many people's first introduction to digital content marketplaces like the App Store.

Apple has gone on to sell over 1 billion iPhones since then, reaching a peak of more than 231 million in 2015. Apple's product portfolio has also expanded and now includes not only Macs, iPods, and iPhones, but also iPads, the Apple Watch, Beats headphones, Apple TV, iCloud, Apple Pay, and more.

Streaming enables consumers to enjoy music more easily, particularly with the increasing home penetration of smart speakers such as the Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple HomePod. So too does the increasing use of data, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) by streaming platforms.

Yes. While the Apple Watch already has plenty of competition (Samsung, Pebble, 5ive, Sony, and many others) and new entrants are sure to come, these competitors will be hard pressed to replicate the seamless integration into users' lives that Apple has come to define itself by.

Netflix is a textbook example of successful disruptive innovation strategy. Starting out as a company supplying DVD mailouts, Netflix offered a cost-effective and convenient product to an area of the market that was previously overlooked.

A.I., robotics, nanomaterials, biotech, bioinformatics, quantum computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) – these are transforming the world. Digital technologies such as mobile, social media, smartphones, big data, predictive analytics and cloud are fundamentally different than the preceding IT-based technologies.

If your innovation incrementally improves the existing product, then the innovation is sustainable. But if it completely changes the way the product has been used so far, or if it serves a completely different set of customers, then the innovation is disruptive.

Two examples of new-market disruption outlined in Disruptive Strategy are the emergence of personal computers and, later, smartphones. Together, they illustrate how disruptors become incumbents that can then be disrupted by a new innovation.

What do you mean by the second wave of innovation? ›

The second wave of innovation is marked by the Age of Steam, which facilitated the transportation over long distances of both people and goods, and contributed to the development and market expansion of many companies. It ended with the Great Depression.

Despite its commitments, there seem to be several ethical issues with Apple (see Figure 2 below). These include poor working conditions such as health and safety risks, child labour, poor environmental reporting, contribution to e-waste and tax avoidance.

Apple is poised for a big 2022.

Outsized expectations, increased scrutiny from antitrust regulators, supply chain issues, and a persisting Covid threat will all factor in as Apple tries to keep pace with its masterful 2021 performance.

By the mid-90s, overpriced computers and failed products almost put Apple on the brink of disaster. The company was losing about a billion dollars a year when founder Steve Jobs returned to reboot the company in 1997.

Let's take a look at why this product failed. It was in the year 1992; Apple announced to the world the arrival of Newton. The Newton was invented by a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) by the then Apple CEO: John Scully. This revolutionary product could take notes, store contact and manage calendars.

Albert Einstein had the label "mentally slow" put on his permanent school record. Henry Ford's first two automobile companies failed. Oprah Winfrey was fired from an early job as a television news anchor. Jerry Seinfeld was booed off stage in his first stand-up comedy appearance.

Apple puts their customers first

This is their number one priority. Everything else is related to how customers respond to their products. Apple handpicks the tile for their retail stores. They hide the wires, cash registers, and clutter so the audience can focus on their products.

These incremental improvements often hold the key to mass adoption. One of the most successful and recent examples of incremental innovation is the iPhone.

The evolution of the iPhone is built on two strategies: new product innovation and incremental improvement. The phone started with one model in white and black in 2007 but has churned out over fourteen models of varying colors in the past decade (Lyytinen, 2017).

Supply chains in today's globalization are very vulnerable to risks such as natural disasters, terrorism, cyber attacks and credit crunch etc that could easily disrupt the flow of raw materials, finished products and information.

What is the impact of disruptive innovation? ›

Disruptive innovation can improve society by bringing about new levels of efficiency, productivity, and convenience. For example, the personal computer and the internet have made it possible for people to access information and communicate with each other faster and more easily than ever before.

What Is Disruptive Technology? Disruptive technology is an innovation that significantly alters the way that consumers, industries, or businesses operate. A disruptive technology sweeps away the systems or habits it replaces because it has attributes that are recognizably superior.

Apple's success lies in a strategic vision that transcended simple desktop computing to include mobile devices and wearables. Both performance and design are key drivers of the Apple brand and its ongoing success.

It's because they focused on their biggest strength, making a product easy to use. This meant people who may have never touched a technology before could all of a sudden use it with relative ease. And that's what makes them innovative.

The company's organizational structure is one of the main drivers behind its growth and innovations. As Apple started to expand and diversify its market segments, products and services, a major challenge is facing the company's global supply chain.

Apple is widely regarded as one of the most innovative companies in the world. From its early days of redefining personal computing with the Macintosh to more recent groundbreaking products like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, Apple has a long history of innovation.

The first apple was the apple that made Isaac Newton discover gravity. The second apple was the Apple iPhone which was designed by Steve Jobs. The third apple was the apple or the fruit mentioned in Bible Genesis Chapter 3 or the so-called “Eve's apple”.

Apple uses product development and market penetration as its main intensive strategy for growth.

In January 2019, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated in a shareholder letter that over 11 million battery replacements had been made under the discount program.

It's safe to say that technology has changed nearly every industry out there, and the music industry is no exception. In fact, some would argue that the changes brought about by technological advances have been even more dramatic in the world of music.

How streaming disrupted the music industry? ›

More Artist Penetration

The impact of streaming and social media on artist penetration has been phenomenal. Artists can interact directly with their audience, create songs and post to all streaming platforms without the help of a manager or record label.

People spend more time stealing music than they do listening to it, in a lot of cases. Piracy and low streaming royalties have fundamentally changed the way artists get paid off of their creative work.

Yes. While the Apple Watch already has plenty of competition (Samsung, Pebble, 5ive, Sony, and many others) and new entrants are sure to come, these competitors will be hard pressed to replicate the seamless integration into users' lives that Apple has come to define itself by.

Apple has long been a disruptive force in the technology market, all the way from its introduction of the Macintosh in 1984 through its announcement of the Apple Watch 30 years later.

Apple always concentrates on fewer numbers of products with unique features that provide maximum value to customers. The company focuses on enhancing product features with more disruptive technology rather than producing hundred mediocre products to saturate the market.

Disruptive Innovation Contention with Example

For instance, the internet was disruptive because it was not an iteration of previous technology. A classic example of the disruptive nature of the internet being unleased was how it restructured the bookselling industry.

Sustaining innovation focuses on retaining markets by improving current products. In contrast, disruptive innovation seizes new markets by utilizing new technologies and business models.

Apple Inc's weaknesses include premium prices, incompatibility with other OS systems, and high dependency on iPhone and iPad. Apple Inc's opportunities include expanding distribution networks, using green technology, introducing smart wearable products, and offering self-driving car technology.

In fact, Apple's gross emissions (without carbon offsets) totaled 23.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide for the year 2021 (notice the shift from kg to tons). Of these emissions, approximately 70% came directly from the manufacturer of what was then considered Apple's latest and greatest products.