The Cupertino-based tech giant Apple (trading with AAPL on NASDAQ) is worth about 195 dollars a share and is currently valued at about 3 trillion dollars, making it the most valuable company in the world. Although the company sells different products like iPads (tablets), computers (MacBooks), accessories (AirPods), wearables (Apple watch), and streaming services (Apple TV), its major source of revenue is the iPhone. Last year, Apple raked in a revenue of over 200 billion from sales of the iPhone only. According to Counterpoint Research, Apple Company controls the second largest share of the smartphone market, with its main rival Samsung leading by a very slight margin. 

This is quite an irony considering how Apple is often bashed by its rivals and many consumers for “always being late”, in terms of innovations and features in its product lineup. The iPhone has been paraded for having the same design for years, a relatively small battery compared to other smartphones, and a  boring interface that gives the user little to no control. Because of this, Apple has been the target of countless trolls from Samsung, and Google joined in recently with its #BestPhonesForever ad campaign. But then, if you look at the numbers, Apple tops both Samsung and Google, why? The answer to this question lies in Apple’s approach to innovation and marketing. 

The biggest issue with innovation; Launching before you are ready

“Launch before you are ready”, is an approach that may sound rational in theory but leaves a lot of what if’s. What this approach entails is that companies shouldn’t wait until when they are ready before launching a product. Rather, they should launch the product once they have a working model aka a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Those who support this idea argue that MVPs are meant to fail. 

Thus, some MVPs are just practice runs to test assumptions around the problem, the solution, and the market. Sometimes you get lucky and get it all right the first time. But most of the time, you fail. That’s the trick with startup: Fail early, fail often, and go back to the drawing board.....Joe Procopio (Medium)

Another writer puts it this way;

The main benefit of launching before you are ready is that your audience is smaller. Would you rather fall in front of a stadium of people or a televised event or at a wedding where you know most of the people?

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At first glance, both rationalizations seem plausible, but take a closer look and you start to see the flaws. First, startups aren’t often sitting on a pile of cash, so unlike established companies, startups can’t afford to invest millions of dollars into a project that doesn’t have a reasonable chance of success for two reasons. One, the product could have a bad reputation not because it doesn’t have great potential but because it was launched too early and received terrible reviews. For startups, having a good review is as important as having a great product, because it can be very difficult to recover from negative product reviews. Secondly, investor’s confidence. Launching too early is good but only when the product succeeds. If the product fails, well, like they say, “the road to failure is paved with good intentions.” 

However, investors don’t invest their money in a business for the sake of good intentions but to make profits. So they need results, and failure doesn’t really inspire confidence. This is why one of the core duties of the founder is knowing the success threshold of the product. Now, many established companies don’t mind throwing away millions of dollars in an attempt at innovation. We have seen this countless times, especially among tech giants like Meta, Google, and Samsung. Meta invested billions of dollars into Metaverse and the VR headset, Samsung’s Bixby is more of an inconvenience than an innovation while Google has a whole catalog of failed projects. These companies can afford to launch products too early but although Apple is a well-established company, it takes a very different approach to product launch.

Product Launch; The Apple Way

The first thing you should know about Apple is that it doesn’t mind being late to the game. In fact, Apple plays a different game entirely. While most companies are focused on being the first to come out with an innovative product or feature, Apple is focused on its ecosystem. 

Youtuber Marques Brownlee explains it better, 

“..it is a huge focus for Apple not just to make good new stuff but to make everything plug into each other because of course it makes the products better but it also makes it harder to leave the ecosystem…”

In essence, Apple is focused on integration. The iPhone may be the best-selling Apple product but most people aren’t using Apple products because it is the most innovative device or software available, but because of the ease with which all of its products communicate with each other. The Apple ecosystem boasts an unparalleled interconnection between all Apple devices and software such that it is difficult to make use of one without the other. Take for example the Apple AirPods. Before they were released, Apple phones used a 30mm headphone jack just like every other smartphone. But Apple took the initiative of eliminating the 30mm headphone jack and replacing it with the AirPods. 

At first, many people were against the decision, but when they realized just how convenient the AirPods felt and how well it worked, every other smartphone manufacturer jumped on the bandwagon. The biggest selling point of the AirPods is just how well it works with the iPhone and every other Apple device like the MacBook and iPad. The same can be said of the Apple Watch, in fact, all Apple products communicate so easily with each other that it is possible to switch between devices without missing a beat. Suddenly, AirPods became the next big tech innovation. This wasn’t because Apple was the first to invent wireless earphones, but because when Apple launched theirs, it worked seamlessly. 

Another reason why Apple is often late is that they ensure their product is ready. As I mentioned, many tech companies launch half-baked products that fail in no time, but not Apple. Rather than launch a product when it is not ready, Apple is known to extend its launch date. The Consumers aren’t always happy about this but all that fuss goes away once the product is launched. The Apple FaceID is an example of better late than never. This feature was available on Android for years, but to say that it was a failed attempt at innovation would be an understatement. Honestly, most times, face unlock on Android feels like a decoration rather than a feature as does most other features on Android. But then in 2017, Apple launched the iPhone X with FaceID technology. It was flawless, with perhaps a few glitches but not so much that it couldn’t be used as a primary unlock feature. 

Fast forward to Apple’s last Worldwide Developers Conference where the company introduced a completely new product to its lineup, the Apple Vision Pro. The name may sound a bit gimmicky but that’s just Apple being Apple. The question is, why is Apple Vision Pro a big deal when VR and AR headsets have been around for quite some time now? 

Check out reviews on Apple Vision Pro, the first thing you’ll notice is how every reviewer points out the usefulness of the headgear, its seamless interaction with the Apple ecosystem, its future potential, and the many things that make it unique from the VR headset that came before it.  It’s almost as though nobody paid attention to the hefty price tag of the product. But why? One way of explaining this is that if the Vision Pro works as well as they say it does, then it should be well worth the price. After all, there've been so many VR headsets that equally came with a hefty price tag and a truckload of problems not to mention a lack of support and application. Once again, Apple was late but it made a grand entrance and stole the show. But Apple isn’t a great company because of its approach to innovation only. There’s also the unique marketing strategy it uses. 

Product Marketing; The Apple Way

Apple shows its marketing genius in many different ways like; focusing on value, ladder pricing, product placement, and media hype. But there is another strategy that is less often talked about but Apple continues to deploy it, time after time. It is deceptively simple and perhaps that is the reason why it works so well. The strategy revolves around two things; Control and Comparison. 

Let’s talk about Control;

Apple avoids “Buzz Words” in its marketing. YouTuber Marques Brownlee pointed this out in his video “ Apple’s Forbidden Words”.  Here is how he explains it;

..if you come out with a new product and you associate it heavily with a word that the general public already uses or that another company, some competitors are already using heavily for a bunch of different things, then you run the risk that the sentiment around that word might actually change and might actually have a downturn at some point in the future, thus dragging the whole reputation of your product down with it.

So instead of VR Headset, Apple calls their Vision Pro, Instead of a Fingerprint scanner or reader, Apple calls it TouchID, and AI for Apple is Machine Learning, ML, or transformer model. 

I think that's because clearly, AI is such a big thing that it kinda has this public persona that also has a bit of a dark side. It's a bit of a controversial word in some areas. If you're Apple, and you care so much about your public image, you don't wanna risk attaching yourself to that word that you can't control, so they just don't. They literally just don't say it. So that's control

The second point is Comparison;

Apple almost never compares its products or features with any other in the market. Most times you’d see smartphone manufacturers compare screen size, battery capacity, screen brightness, screen refresh rate, etc. To them, having a bigger battery than the competition is a good selling point, or having a faster refresh rate or even a tougher glass finishing or reverse charging capacity. All these things are great, but they also mean that these companies are drawn into a loop where they constantly have to try and upend their rivals. They are forced to come up with bigger screens or bigger batteries or something that will give them an edge. Apple avoids the comparison game completely by branding just about everything. Again, here is where the buzzwords come in. Here is an official list of some of Apple’s branding and if some of these sound familiar, that’s because they are. Apple is simply refusing to enter into unnecessary comparisons by using words that are already being dragged around by other companies. 

What can startups learn from Apple’s Innovation and Marketing Strategy? 

Apple is a multibillion-dollar company and because of this, it can take some very bold decisions. Yet a startup that is worth much less than Apple can still learn something from them. 

Stand for something - It may be difficult at first but clearly defining what you stand for right from the start is one of the most important lessons any startup can learn from Apple. 

Being the first doesn’t necessarily make you the best - There is a lot of merit to being first in launching a new product or service. But any advantage gained is quickly lost if the product or service doesn’t meet the expectations of the consumers. So rather than launch an unfinished product and hope to iterate its development along the way, it is more cost-effective to wait until the product is finished or at least the success threshold has been met before launching. 

Avoid comparison when you can - This can be difficult at times but startups can differentiate themselves from the competition by completely avoiding certain words. Especially if the competition is in control of the perception around those words. For example, it is common knowledge that iPhone Screens are manufactured by Samsung which is practically the leader in OLED smartphone screens. So instead of saying that the iPhone has an OLED display, Apple uses the words “Super Retina or Super Retina XDR” displays. That way, it doesn’t have to compare with Samsung. 

‍Have a North Star - Having a direction is good, and standing for something is great but in addition to these two, startups need to have a north star. Something to help guide them as they steer through the murky waters and to ensure they are always heading in the right direction. Here is what Tim Cook CEO of Apple had to say about this;

So many people confuse innovation with change...many think innovation is change, but it's about making things better, not just merely changing something. We've never set the objective to be first, we've always set the objective to be the best, that north star has helped guide us through the temptations, we just want to make the best products.

Conclusion

Innovation and marketing are two foundations every startup must get right if it is to succeed and strive. But many companies often take the wrong approach and end up stranded along the way. In this article, I have discussed innovation and marketing from the point of view of the most valuable company in the world, Apple Inc. These insights aren’t derived from any official statements from the company but rather from sources on the internet as well as personal rationalization.

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