Why Apple Succeeds

I've been reading a lot about tablets for several years now. I soak up every piece of tech news I can find on them, and as much of the analysis as I can stomach. The tablet market is much more exciting than it was a year ago, and in case you haven't read it here before, I am not an Apple fan.

But, it is hard to argue with their success. There is lots of analysis of why Apple succeeds while the others...don't succeed as well as Apple. Each of the pundits has some valid points, but I think they are failing to see the larger picture. It is this larger picture that I want to look at.

First, let me make my bold statement.

Apple succeeds because it does everything better than everyone else.

Okay, that might be a bit much, but if it isn't the absolute truth, it is still largely true, and I think you will agree when I outline the various areas I think are important below. First, the least important element.

Software - OS

I know there are people who think that iOS is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I don't buy it. With Android beating, or nearly so (depending on who you ask), the iPhone, it is pretty obvious that a lot of people like Android as an OS, and every review I hear of Android tablets speaks about how well the OS works...well, at least Android - Honeycomb. The reviewers like it, it appears the public likes it, but it still gets outsold, at least on tablets by iOS. I will explain why below, but I have to call the OS a draw.

Software - Apps

Again, I hear Apple and the Fanboys shouting about the numbers of apps for the iPad, but with the growing number of Android apps, this is largely irrelevant. How many Fart apps do you need? There are so many apps that do the same thing that if you numbered apps by the unique tasks that can be performed with apps, it would probably reduce the number by 80%. I will give Apple a slight edge here, but only slight.

Hardware

Apple does make a pretty machine, whether it is the MacBook Air, the iPad or the iPhone. It carries on right down to the tiny Nano. Each product quickly attains iconic status. It is hard to estimate how important this is, and the only downside for Apple (all companies wish for such a downside) is that their product names are becoming the generic names for their segments. Articles that talk about smartphones have titles like "Why You Should Hate Your iPhone." This iconic sense comes into play when you shop, because often your choice is Apple or the other guy, Mac or Windows, iPhone or Android, iPad or the other guys. We'll come back to this idea again, but the point is that if Apple hardware does beat everyone else in each category, it matches them. Image is important, and the image projected by the actual products is incredibly strong. Advantage Apple.

Advertising

Apple gets it. That is all there is to it and I really hate to admit it. Apple ads sell products, but also push brand. The ads are simple, but the message is crystal clear. I haven't even seen any other company mount the kind of ad campaigns that Apple has. No one matches the simple message of Apple. Apple appeals to your senses. They appeal to your emotions. Apple ads do not appeal to your reason. They don't say "You should buy Apple because..."

This is what we believe

We will always

They show you what you can do with the product. Now my focus right now is on tablets, and these ads are incredible. They don't say anything about why the iPad is better than a Galaxy Tab or a Xoom. In some ways these ads might give you the idea that there are no other tablets, which is an idea that Apple would very much like you have. The image put forward by the ads is just as strong as the image of the products when you hold them in your hands. No one else even comes close, right now. There was a time when Microsoft was doing ads this good for Windows, and for Office, and some of the ads for Windows Phone 7 were very strong. Other companies can you do this, but no one is, especially in the tablet sector. Advantage Apple.

In Store

Now, first we need to talk about the advantage of the Apple store. No competitor in the tablet market has stores. Heck, I don't think any of their competitors in the PC market have their own stores. You walk into an Apple Store, and you don't see its competitors. Just like in the ads, you might imagine that the iPad is the only tablet on the market.

But, it continues into some retail locations. Here is Austin, Texas we have a Frys Electronics store, big place, electronics superstore. If you walk to the back of that store, you find a large area filled with PCs. Rows of desktops and rows of portables...all Windows. Toshiba sits side by side, often literally cheek by jowl, with HP, Acer, Fujitsu, Sony. A few get the prime end locations, but mostly it is a computer meat market. But, no Apples. There are no Apples crammed into this vast sea of PCs.

No, Apple has its own space, separated from all the others. The tables are different, the lighting is different. The Desktops and laptops don't sit crammed side by side, no, they are given space to spread out, and down on one end of this happy Apple-land, the iPad...well, actually, I think I remember seeing two of them out on display, with plenty of space around them, the ultra-slinky Macbook Airs just next door and none of that Windows riff-raff to spoil your experience.

Happy Apple Land

I like the sound of that.

Stop and think about the huge advantage that gives Apple. There's no HP laptop next to that Macbook, flaunting its lower price at you, making you stop and think that maybe a Windows PC is a better buy. No, nothing but Apples. Your choices aren't HP, Samsung, or Apple, your choices are 11" Air, or 13", or maybe an iPad is all you need.

And where are the rest of the tablets? This is where the story gets dirty. You walk out of Happy Apple Land, across the sea of Windows PCs and there, against the wall are the other tablets. They have a three shelf display, near eye level and maybe as much as ten feet of wall space. Happy Apple Land is a table nearly twenty feet long for two iPads, three or four laptops, and another three or four desktops. Sad Dingy Tablet Land is ten feet of shelves, and there are about a dozen tablets stuffed into this area, between the eReaders and the portable accessories. If three people try to look at the tablets at the same time it feels cramped.

Now, I checked back, and it isn't quite that bad. Several of the...other...tablets have the end of one of the long PC tables. They are still crammed in together, Acer, Asus, Fujitsu, Toshiba. There are about 5 tablets crammed into a space about three feet wide on two levels. Not much space, and all competing directly with each other.

Back more than ten years ago, I remember hearing that Microsoft was paying retailers, like CompUSA, by the foot of shelf space devoted to Windows and Office. This led to gleaming racks of Microsoft products as far as the eye could see...and a few irate articles in the press.

I feel sure that something like that is going on at Frys. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not blaming Frys. They are in business to sell product. It does not really matter what that product is, iPad or Android, it is all the same to them, as long as they make the sale.

Best Buy was better. The iPad got the prime location on the end cap, but just around the corner, and clearly in view from the end cap are the rest of the tablets. Also, Best Buy doesn't have them crammed into a tiny space. Best Buy has all the tablets spread out and well lit. Of course, I did notice one advantage for the iPad. At all electronics stores, the tablets, laptops and other items that can be picked up are tethered to the tables. This is understandable, they are portable items and would get carried off. Even if they didn't make it out of the store, they would end up all over the store. But, there was a difference at Best Buy with how they were tethered.

All of the Android tablets had this huge, heavy domed anchor glued onto the back. It was at least a couple of inches wide and three inches long and domed out at least an inch from the back of the tablet. This makes it virtually impossible to tell what the tablets were going to be like when you got them home. The weight is off, and you cannot try to hold them by the back. In fact, the most comfortable way to hold these tablets is by putting that dome in the palm of your hand. Not really conducive to knowing what it will be like when you get it home.

And, this is even worse for the 7" tablets. You cannot hold them in portrait orientation resting across your hand, which to me seems like the logical and comfortable way to hold it.

Buying a Tablet

Now, I was going to talk up the ease and beauty of the Apple website when it comes to buying an iPad, because I felt sure it would be easy, but at the moment of my writing, August 17, 2011, 3:45pm CDT, something is wrong on the site. From apple.com it takes three clicks to get to the page where you select your iPad, and that is where the site fails. There are six choices, 16, 32 or 64GB and Black or White. Only one, 64GB Black takes you further into the purchase process. The rest leave you with a Page not found message. If they aren't in stock, they could at least tell you. I will check it again later.

Well, I did try again later, and it takes seven clicks to reach the checkout stage.

Dell? Five clicks

Samsung? Five clicks

Okay, so they aren't winning on the website front, but I think you can see the enormous advantage that Apple has at every phase of the process. Everyone talks about the advantage that Apple has because they make both software and hardware, but Apple has gone even further. I believe that Apple is controlling the entire experience. How it looks. How it feels. How you use it. How you get apps. How it looks in the store. They control everything, right up until the moment you buy it, and even beyond, because while I hear horror stories about Apple Tech Support, what I heard is nothing worse than I hear from anyone else, and overall I would judge their Tech Support to be a little better, at least from the rumors and reports.

No one else matches Apple, because no one else controls every part of the customer/user experience the way Apple does. Microsoft just sells software. Samsung sells hardware to retailers, and the retailers don't care what is sold, as long as they make the sale. Samsung? Apple? Toshiba? Who cares?

I don't like Apple. I don't like the smug attitude of the company. I don't like the smug attitude of the fanboys. I don't like the closed ecosystem. I don't like the lack of choice. But, I have to admit that Apple does a lot of things right, which is why they are enjoying phenomenal success.