Why did Apple succeed so phenomenally?

I got an email from Listserve the other day from someone called Matt and he asked the question ‘Why did Apple succeed so phenomenally?’ This is the email I received:

I feel like an insane number of people have an (unhealthy?) obsession with Apple for reasons that don’t make sense to me. I’ve heard these reasons again and again:

* It just works
* It is high quality hardware
* It feels good

All of these seem highly subjective, and I don’t really see anyone supporting them with hard facts or statistics. They seem overpriced at best, and irrelevant at worst.

Take iTunes for instance. If you own multiple apple devices, unless you _really_ know what you are doing, you don’t want to anything other than a one-to-one pairing of your device and your iTunes. I also never understood how any one who has used iTunes can claim that Apple products are “easy to use”, or “just work”. Apple products are also only convenient when you are perfectly aligned with what they consider standard, or their expected use cases. For instance, if you have a video that you want to copy to your device, you need your video to be in _exactly_ the right format, or go around fumbling with multiple video converters or video players.

Of course, I find it pretty likely that I’m just not “getting it”. If you consider yourself an Apple fan, or you just like the product line, I would love to hear from you about why you are ready to pay the premium for Apple. I am particularly curious to know whether the people who buy Apple products do it just because they like it, or if they think the increase in quality is worth more than the increase in cost.

On the other hand, if your opinion is similar to mine, I would love to hear from you and know that I’m not alone :)

Btw, I tried out a Macbook Air and I really like it. If I bought an Apple product for myself, that would be it.

As someone who used Android since the HTC G1 and recently shifted to the Apple iPhone 6, I’ve often asked myself why I shifted to the dark side. What is it about Apple products that make them so appealing? What is it about Apple that helped them be so successful?

First, let’s get one thing out of the way. “* It is high quality hardware
* It feels good” aren’t merely subjective. Apple has objectively high quality hardware and they definitely do feel good. That’s not to say there aren’t Android phones that feel or look as good as iPhones do. The Nexus 4 for instance was a gorgeous looking phone that felt perfect in your hands especially with that marvellous glass back. I haven’t met a single person who didn’t like how the Nexus 4 felt or questioned its hardware. Similarly, the iPhone 6 just feels really good in your hand and it has really high quality hardware. That is not in question.

As for the other part: It just works.

The reason people say that is because it’s true. It. just. works.

I’ll use the Macbook as an example. I’m using it right now. I’m writing this on my Macbook. And I love it. I’ve had a couple of Laptops before this. From Asus, Acer, Sony, Dell and HP. Every single one of gave me trouble. More trouble than they were worth and yet I refused to buy an Apple product because I felt the same way Matt felt. Until I gave in and bought a Macbook Air. 3 years late, I’m sure I’ve saved more money in not repairing this magnificient machine than if I had bought a slightly cheaper Windows laptop. Over the last 3 years, I’ve lugged the Macbook around through countries. I’ve used it every day and for everything. I’ve used it to write Dissertations, presentations, essays, articles, lesson plans, teacher sheets, mark sheets and a billion other documents. Not once has it given me any trouble. And that is priceless. The fact that it looks beautiful is just a bonus.

I know ‘It just works’ doesn’t sound like a great argument but I’ve realised it’s the only think I look at when buying a product now. I don’t have to worry about my iPhone. I don’t have to worry about my contacts or my calendars updating. I don’t have to worry about my emails or my messages or my camera hanging. Every swipe I make feels natural and designed to use as little time as possible. And all the icons are the same size. Seriously Android, I won’t come back to you until you sort that out.

I understand how iTunes might seem like a pain in the ass and I’m sure it is for a lot of people. But for me, again, it just seems to work perfectly. I plug it in, it backs up, syncs and I don’t worry about it at all. I don’t even think about it at this point.

I’m not a fanboy. I make informed decisions. If Android comes up with an update that piques my interest and there’s a new phone announced that gets me excited and I know for sure it won’t give me any trouble, I’ll dump my iPhone. Similarly, if I find a Windows laptop that will work consistently, have good battery life and be a joy to work on, I’ll shift. In fact, this laptop Lenovo is rumored to be working on might just be the one to get me to shift. At the end of the day, people need to make the choice that suits them the best. Every one has different tastes and everyone needs something different from their device. I know what I want right now and I know Apple provides me with that.

I want something that just works.