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Oct 14
Apple taking a page from Intel’s strategy book?I’ve been giving a lot of thought about why the tech industry just hates on Apple products during their reveal; even though they are enormously successful in the end. Then I realized that there’s no point in trying to figure that out, people build up their own expectations all the time.  Just hoping that the next new device will make them happy in some magical way.  This isn’t applied to mobile devices, this is applied to everything we do.  I guess it’s a sad view of how unhappy the first world is. I set my sights on trying to figure why Apple is always on-off with these product reveals; at least with the techies.  And I didn’t have to look any further than to Intel. Tick-Tock strategy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Tick-Tock Apple is responsible for creating both OS and hardware; a tough job for any company to put together.  Many giants may have started on this path, but over time gave in to the economics of having a hardware builder and a software developer.Like Intel, Apple products release at the most aggressive rate which they can possibly release at; the rate of tick-tock.  The cycle of ‘big reveal’ followed by ‘minor upgrade’.Iphone3g was the tock, Iphone3gs was a tick cycle, and the iphone4 tock, iphone4s tick… the pattern is pretty obvious.  With the iphone2g being, well the beginning of all things, but things didn’t really take off until the 3g was released.  So we can expect the iphone5 to be a tock.So why do the masses flock to the ticks?  Because if you bought previously on a tick cycle, you’re likely to repurchase on a tick cycle.  If you bought on a tock, you’re likely to purchase again on a tock.  And hence, the numbers that Apple puts out are really just a cycling of their same customer base buying at different times with the addition of some new customers switching brands/phones.So the question to ask is whether or not the same build strategy exist for WP7 and Android devices?No. Collectively as a group they have a much more aggressive strategy, which is “release the best phone to trump our other Android competitors’.  So quarterly the new next best Android or WP7 is released. What does this strategy do to the market?  It pushes the bar in the industry and quite possibly at a rate that Apple cannot keep up with.

Apple taking a page from Intel’s strategy book?
I’ve been giving a lot of thought about why the tech industry just hates on Apple products during their reveal; even though they are enormously successful in the end.

Then I realized that there’s no point in trying to figure that out, people build up their own expectations all the time.  Just hoping that the next new device will make them happy in some magical way.  This isn’t applied to mobile devices, this is applied to everything we do.  I guess it’s a sad view of how unhappy the first world is.

I set my sights on trying to figure why Apple is always on-off with these product reveals; at least with the techies.  And I didn’t have to look any further than to Intel.

Tick-Tock strategy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Tick-Tock

Apple is responsible for creating both OS and hardware; a tough job for any company to put together.  Many giants may have started on this path, but over time gave in to the economics of having a hardware builder and a software developer.

Like Intel, Apple products release at the most aggressive rate which they can possibly release at; the rate of tick-tock.  The cycle of ‘big reveal’ followed by ‘minor upgrade’.

Iphone3g was the tock, Iphone3gs was a tick cycle, and the iphone4 tock, iphone4s tick… the pattern is pretty obvious.  With the iphone2g being, well the beginning of all things, but things didn’t really take off until the 3g was released.  So we can expect the iphone5 to be a tock.

So why do the masses flock to the ticks?  Because if you bought previously on a tick cycle, you’re likely to repurchase on a tick cycle.  If you bought on a tock, you’re likely to purchase again on a tock.  And hence, the numbers that Apple puts out are really just a cycling of their same customer base buying at different times with the addition of some new customers switching brands/phones.

So the question to ask is whether or not the same build strategy exist for WP7 and Android devices?

No.

Collectively as a group they have a much more aggressive strategy, which is “release the best phone to trump our other Android competitors’.  So quarterly the new next best Android or WP7 is released.

What does this strategy do to the market?  It pushes the bar in the industry and quite possibly at a rate that Apple cannot keep up with.

Posted 4 months ago