Wednesday 25 April 2012

Trickle-down innovation & your Apple iPad / iPhone...

Very rarely companies 'beat-the-street' (ie: profits exceed expectations) significantly on the upside. Last night Apple Inc. did just that. It's testament to brand strength and the dedication of the 'post-Jobs' management team. What does this mean for the price of Apple stock?

Market participants have been less inclined to hold onto their Apple investments lately which isn't surprising given the stock's astronomical price-rise in the last few years. Additionally, the untimely passing of Steve Jobs, Apple's innovation-genius, adds some credence to the 'sell-your-Apple' call. Has Apple reached its zenith in terms of product-development / product-innovation?

It doesn't take too much digging to reveal a sales-strategy so diabolically clever that, if true, consigns the premise that 'the iPod was Steve Jobs' greatest achievement' to the trash-bin. It's a sales-strategy so ephemeral, so revolutionary that it rewrites marketing theory. 'Those in the know' will tell you Apple's future is bright, very bright and it's Jobs' real legacy. It's a legacy not necessarily beneficial for Apple-users but it certainly will be for Apple shareholders, at large, around the globe.

'Those in the know', if pushed, will tell you that long before the release of the iPad2, Apple's engineers had already developed the iPad 5, 6 and 7. (similarly the iPod & the iPhone). In a perfect world we'd believe the truth of 'what they've said'. We'd accept that Apple spared us the iPad10 because we were, quite frankly. not quite ready for it. We'd admire Apple's redefinition of reverse-engineering or trickle-down innovation and accept, at face-value, Apple's strategy to reveal it's revelation to us 1 version at a time, each version 'advancing' a small step or two. We'd understand that brand-push pressure would have us reaching for our wallets at each 'new release'. We'd understand, accept and admire! We'd also be mesmerised by the brand; we'd buy; we'd replace; we'd replace again and we'd spend some more. It's a lasting, innovative and admirable legacy built to drive Apple's profits well into the future.

Then again, this is the real world and 'what they say' is hardly ever based in reality.








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