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I can't get my head around how Apple manages to come out with products that are cool enough they could come from a startup with some very motivated founders wor
by Maro 16y ago
I can't get my head around how Apple manages to come out with products that are cool enough they could come from a startup with some very motivated founders working day and night.
Almost all other companies with >100 employees are turning out mostly crappy products that no one gets excited about. When's the last time you talked about a Xerox printer or HP laptop? In my mind this is why a company like Nokia can't make a comeback into the smartphone market: they're probably unable to motivate a small team and then let them work out a cool product. Or they can't amortize away the risk of that team being on the wrong track, the way most startups are.
Apple can consistently pull this off, how do they do it?
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- geden 16y agoBenevolent dictatorship.
- smackfu 16y agoBecause people will buy their products on faith, where a startup would just be ignored. Belkin could release this exact same thing and it would be mocked.
- jcromartie 16y agoBut Belkin couldn't release this exact same thing. They don't have the right people. There's a single person at the top of Apple that all products go through. If Steve doesn't love it, it doesn't get made, and Steve has good taste. I'm not trying to idolize the guy, it's just how the company works (internally, and in the market).
- quantumhobbit 16y agoBelkin could release this exact same thing and it would break after two weeks.
- c1sc0 16y agoIt always startles me a little when a brand I used to trust blindly has been relegated to garbage status. Happened to me with Belkin and LaCie.
- gamble 16y agoApple's multitouch technology comes from a startup called Fingerworks that Apple bought years back. Fingerworks trackpads were so well liked that they're still selling on eBay for hundreds of dollars. The difference between Belkin and Apple is that Belkin has a history of mediocrity, while Apple does not. Apple earned their enormous reservoir of good will through years of great products.
- smackfu 16y agoWell fine, replace belkin with fingerworks. How many people have even heard of their trackpad? Apple has the power to move something out of a niche market.
- JMiao 16y agobelkin might make something that could look the same, but it wouldn't work the same. hence, the mocking.
- catch23 16y agoBelkin is commodity hardware already. I would put Belkin along with Rosewill in the same bucket, only Rosewill products are half the price and much higher quality.
- alexk7 16y ago"We are the biggest startup on the planet." --Steve Jobs (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20006526-56.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20006526-56.html)
- kmfrk 16y agoLook at the number of products the companies you mention have. Apple devote their attention to products - and update them when they please. They don't have to "keep up" with anyone else either, which applies especially in the Windows laptop market.
- blahblahblah 16y agoIn this case, the answer is that Apple didn't come up with the idea. A startup (FingerWorks) invented multitouch trackpads and sold them. They were originally marketed as an alternative mouse technology for people suffering from RSI. They were rather expensive at the time (~$130), which is probably why they didn't have much mass market appeal originally. Apple bought FingerWorks to get the patents. The "new" trackpad from Apple is essentially a reimplementation of the iGesture pad with some modifications. Specifically, it's now cordless, there have been some cosmetic changes (color and shape), and they've made some changes in the mapping of gestures to operations and added some new gestures that weren't in the original product.