4 ms·

"But Amazon’s requirements for success are much lower than Apple’s and its tolerance for failure (Amazon Fire phone anyone?) are higher." Can someone explain w

by awinder 10y ago

"But Amazon’s requirements for success are much lower than Apple’s and its tolerance for failure (Amazon Fire phone anyone?) are higher." Can someone explain why Apple has less tolerance to failure? It would seem like they're in the perfect place for failures -- it's not going to torch the company, and they have stable revenue to offset any failures. This seemed like it was more of a company culture thing, but maybe there are strong reasons why Apple couldn't tolerate some failures in the name of searching / growing?

criddell 10y ago
They experiment and fail occasionally. Remember the iPod HiFi?
- sjm-lbm 10y ago
  To be honest, I feel like the fact that you have to reach back 10 years to find a genuinely interesting Apple experiment more or less supports the point made in the article.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - criddell 10y ago
    Ok, then how about MagSafe power connectors?
    - sjm-lbm 10y ago
      "MagSafe is a series of proprietary magnetically attached power connectors, originally introduced by Apple Inc. on January 10, 2006, in conjunction with the MacBook Pro at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, California." From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe (I'm honestly not trying to be a jerk, and will certainly admit that I thought MagSafe was several years newer than that - I still stick by my comment above, though)
  - fnord123 10y ago
    Apple's mice have all been duds. Siri on the desktop is a dud. The pencil is a dud.
    - sjm-lbm 10y ago
      I don't think the point is that 'Apple doesn't ever fail anymore', it's 'Apple doesn't release strange and interesting things anymore'. .. to your examples: * Stranger mice have been made than Apple's. Also, Apple's 'strange mouse' lineage goes all the way back to the first iMac in 1998. * Siri on the desktop isn't anything innovative, it's figuring out some way to build some iOS code to run in regular macOS. * .. and the pencil is just a stylus. They can call it whatever they want. IMHO, none of these rise to the level of something like MagSafe, which is a mundane part of a laptop done in a new and innovative way.
      - fnord123 10y ago
        Amazon Fire wasn't really strange. It was only an experiment in as much as being one of Amazon's first forays into hardware. Otherwise it was pretty standard, iirc.
denzil_correa 10y ago
I guess the author was using customer's perspective of Apple's failure. In the sense, customers are more likely to be harsh on Apple for their failures rather than other companies.
lmm 10y ago
I'd guess a lot of Apple's value lies in the trust their customers have for them - you pay a lot for Apple, but in return you know you're not getting a lemon. It would only take a few failures to seriously dent that, whereas a company with a less premium reputation can probably afford to throw a few things at the wall and see what sticks.

by awinder 10y ago

criddell 10y ago

They experiment and fail occasionally. Remember the iPod HiFi?

sjm-lbm 10y ago
To be honest, I feel like the fact that you have to reach back 10 years to find a genuinely interesting Apple experiment more or less supports the point made in the article.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- criddell 10y ago
  Ok, then how about MagSafe power connectors?
  - sjm-lbm 10y ago
    "MagSafe is a series of proprietary magnetically attached power connectors, originally introduced by Apple Inc. on January 10, 2006, in conjunction with the MacBook Pro at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, California." From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe (I'm honestly not trying to be a jerk, and will certainly admit that I thought MagSafe was several years newer than that - I still stick by my comment above, though)
- fnord123 10y ago
  Apple's mice have all been duds. Siri on the desktop is a dud. The pencil is a dud.
  - sjm-lbm 10y ago
    I don't think the point is that 'Apple doesn't ever fail anymore', it's 'Apple doesn't release strange and interesting things anymore'. .. to your examples: * Stranger mice have been made than Apple's. Also, Apple's 'strange mouse' lineage goes all the way back to the first iMac in 1998. * Siri on the desktop isn't anything innovative, it's figuring out some way to build some iOS code to run in regular macOS. * .. and the pencil is just a stylus. They can call it whatever they want. IMHO, none of these rise to the level of something like MagSafe, which is a mundane part of a laptop done in a new and innovative way.
    - fnord123 10y ago
      Amazon Fire wasn't really strange. It was only an experiment in as much as being one of Amazon's first forays into hardware. Otherwise it was pretty standard, iirc.

denzil_correa 10y ago

I guess the author was using customer's perspective of Apple's failure. In the sense, customers are more likely to be harsh on Apple for their failures rather than other companies.

lmm 10y ago

I'd guess a lot of Apple's value lies in the trust their customers have for them - you pay a lot for Apple, but in return you know you're not getting a lemon. It would only take a few failures to seriously dent that, whereas a company with a less premium reputation can probably afford to throw a few things at the wall and see what sticks.