
Apple and the Next Big Thing - shawndumas
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/01/11/apple-and-the-next-big-thing
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taylodl
I was an Apple naysayer back in the 90's when they were on the ropes. I
remember a having a discussion with a colleague where I exclaimed why doesn't
Apple just give it up? They only have something like 2-3% of the PC market
share. He quickly responded by pointing out that Apple was making $2 Billion
in revenue and that we were working for a company that was making $70 Million
in revenue. Should we just fold up shop? I've never forgotten that discussion
or the profound impact it's had on my way of thinking since. So yeah, a $500
Million Apple Watch market is something I would _kill_ for. Or any one of
their myriad other "losing" propositions.

There's another lesson here as captured by the Harvard Business Review. Let's
suppose you're a technology organization, especially an IT organization, and
you want greater innovation. What path should you take? Should you focus on
innovation or should you focus on execution? Counterintuitively, those
organizations focusing on execution achieved greater innovation than those
focusing on innovation. Execution is _everything._ Why do so many of us have
all these great ideas yet aren't millionaires? Execution. So Tim Cook is
focused on execution. Good.

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htk
The Apple Watch is a business success of course, but I don't see it as a
consumer success. Sure a lot of people are using it, but I feel a general
sense of "wanting to like it" instead of really liking the thing. Nobody I
know who owns an Apple Watch tries to recommend me or anyone else to buy one,
and when I ask them what they like about it, they fumble about notifications
etc.

