iPod - as an innovative product
Apple's iPod Nano was ranked as the first among the 25 most innovative products in 2005 by PC World magazine. iPod is a portable audio player, with a simple user interface and a clean aesthetic design. An iPod is currently the world's best-selling digital audio player that helped pioneer the hard-disk-drive-music player that was unknown to consumers few years ago. Furthermore, iPod is the only portable music player that can play the purchased music. Apple launched iTunes online music store on 28 April 2003. And such exclusiveness helped the iTunes store become the dominant online music service on the Internet.
Many people recognize Apple as a company that has been integrating innovative thought in the organization for many years. Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning products.
iPod would never be able to gain such success without the encouragement of risk and experimentation from the management side. In a world that is changing fast, the company that supports their people to take risk, innovate and share their ideas can outperform their rivals. And that what Apple did. Apple brought together different parties including engineers, designers and beta-testing customers, and encouraged them to work together through faster experimentation and learning process. In addition, Apple understood the potential for rapid change and built into the iPod architecture the capability for other companies to innovate and use their creativity to develop add-on products for iPod. Analysts call it the iPod's ecosystem.
Though, not everything went smoothly for iPod. In 2003, several action lawsuits were brought against Apple, complaining that the battery charges lasted for shorter lengths of time than stated in the manual, and that the battery degraded over time. This was resolved in a lawsuit and affected customers were offered free replacements for their iPods. Apple learned a lesson from such mistakes, and in order to avoid them in their future, products in November 2003, Apple offered an extended iPod warranty for $59 and battery replacement service.
By maintaining a close contact with their customers, Apple was able to provide a better customer service and was able to improve their products. For instance, with iPod, customers are able to buy music on impulse, when they hear something on a film soundtrack or radio show. They can download it straight away, with no need to go to HMV or Amazon (or even forget about it). This makes consumers feel that the product brings improvement to their live.
In order to embrace diversity and differences, Apple released such products as iPod mini, iPod shuffle, iPod nano, video-capable iPod, iPod U2 Special Edition (with the signatures of U2's band members engraved on the back) and even Harry Potter Collector's iPod with the full collection of audio books of the Harry Potter series. Currently, Apply is involved in development of iPod/cell phone hybrid which is going to be released to the market soon. And besides that, a few weeks ago, Apple and Nike announced that they will partner together to make a new product that will combine footwear and iPod. An iPod Sport kit will be able to show the information such as distance, time, speed, and calories burned to the person who will wear in real time. By listening to music, the customers will have fun, while being involved in sport activities.
Apple's marketing strategy and extensive advertising has helped to make iPod a well recognized brand with positive associations in the mind of the consumers. Such an achievement helped company to obtain a substantial competitive advantage. Interestingly, as some analysts suggest, the iPod encouraged users of non-Apple products to switch to other Apple products, such as to Macintosh computers. From about 2000 up until now, Apple appears to have found the right formula for managing creativity and value capture. Apple demonstrated that it can come up with important new ideas and bring them to the market profitably.
By Alisher Muhammadiev
(June 2nd, 2006)
References
1. PCWorld, (January 04, 2006). The 25 Most Innovative Products of the Year.
Retrieved June 01, 2006, from
http://www.pcworld.com/
2. Arik Hesseldahl and Stanley Holmes, (May 24, 2006). Apple and Nike, Running Mates.
BussinessWeek online,Retrieved June 01, 2006, from
http://www.businessweek.com
3. Apple Hot News, (October 26, 2004). Apple Introduces the U2 iPod.
Retrieved June 01, 2006, from
http://www.apple.com/
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