Apple has been in the news so much that many article about how they do it have appeared. I found the one on
Economist.com to be a good read. The first lesson was very interesting because people assume that all their product innovations have come from within. As the article points out most of them have come from outside. The Apple touch is lies in orchestrating the ecosystem. The second lesson is paying attention to the user and not the technology. Other companies have done this. The apple touch is in introducing simplicity and ease of use to the design of the product. The third lesson was listening to the customer. The author says that Apple ignored feedback and went with their instinct. I would rephrase that and say that they paid attention to the future needs by listening to their potential customers. This allowed them to persist with the pod and iTunes idea. The final lesson is to fail wisely or make new mistakes. Steve Jobs had failed in his first attempt to introduce a next generation OS and iPhone. He took his lessons and applied them to the next version. I would add one to this list -- demand creation and supply management. Steve Jobs does a masterful job with his
product demonstrations and keeps people guessing on what they will do next. To complement that, Apple is able to source its components from third parties and able to tie it all together in a manner that provides the consumer with the best experience.