Design thinking & Innovation
at Apple
May2012
HARVARD | BUSINESS | SCHOOL
A case study by
BARBARA FEINBERG
STEFAN THOMKE
Presentation by
Ahmed Soliman
Contents
› Intro
› Design Thinking
› Simplicity in Design & use
› Beyond Fashion
› Innovation, Product Development strategy, and Execution
› Excellence in Execution
› Platform Strategy
› Beautiful Products
› The CEO as Chief Innovator
› Bold Business Experimentation
› Against Conventional Wisdom
› Apple’s Future
Intro
› In 1997 Steve Jobs returned after 12 years of being fired with
a share worth of $ 5.
› Future was uncertain.
“They do what they do best and leave other things to others”.
› In 2012 Apple’s share price $ 600.
› Market capital of $ 550 billion.
› Annual Sales exceeding $ 100 billion.
› Most valuable Publicly-traded company in history.
Think different
1997 - 2002
Design Thinking
› In mid-1970’s, computers were typically housed in discrete
locations and only used by specialists.
› Jobs’ goal was to design a computer that both supports and
foster individual work instead of enterprise use.
› Level of complexity needed to be reduced dramatically.
Design Thinking
( Simplicity in Design & Use )
› Focus on what people need and want.
› Help people love their equipment & the experience.
› First do the design, then push engineers make it happen.
› Jobs’ design-sensibility:
“ Simplicity is the Ultimate sophistication ”.
Design Thinking
( Beyond Fashion )
› It is an essence of customer experience by which design
seems to happen from the inside out.
› iMac wasn’t about candy-colored PCs, but a computer that’s
really:
Quiet
Doesn’t need a Fan
Wakes-up in 15 sec
Best sound system
Super-fine Display
Design Thinking
( Apple’s vision of Simplicity )
› The integration of Sophisticated features and Functionality
with no contradiction or trade-offs.
› No compromise between Simplicity of use & Functionality.
› At Apple, Problems are moving targets not issues to be solved
for once.
Video
Innovation, Prod Development, &
Exec
› Firm’s history and co-founder Steve Jobs had pivotal influence
on the corporate performance.
› It had nearly 50% of education market & artistic enterprises.
› It had almost Zero penetration to Business market.
› Product idea inception should be non-typical to avoid
confusion and complexity.
Innovation, Prod Development, & Exec
( Excellence in Execution )
“The system is that there is no system, that doesn’t mean
we don’t have a process.
Process makes you more efficient, but innovation comes
from people calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new
idea” ,
“Its only by saying No that you can concentrate on the
things that are really important” ,
“It comes from saying No to 1,000 things to make sure we
don’t get on the wrong track”.
-Steve Jobs
Innovation, Prod Development, & Exec
( Excellence in Execution )
› After 12 years Jobs returned and took immediate actions:
› Closed 2 divisions
› Eliminated 70% of new projects
› Launched a website for Direct sales
› Product lines reduced (from 15 to 3)
› Shut facilities (moved manufacturing abroad)
› Apple takes interest in material selection and how things are
manufactured plus being completely attuned to customers.
Innovation, Prod Development, & Exec
( Platform Strategy)
› Apple’s Innovation approach to streamline product
portfolio.
› A Platform strategy envisions a family of products at the
early stages of Product Concept and planning.
› Design with an architecture that will accommodate
development & production of derivative products.
Innovation, Prod Development, & Exec
( Beautiful Products)
› Apple’s passion & close attention
to new materials and
manufacturing process
offers new opportunities for
product Innovations.
The CEO as Chief Innovator
› Research reveals that founders imprint
their own personalities characteristics.
› Jobs’ Design-sensibility reinforced hiring
like-minded people.
› Jobs’ had no formal Design training just
as engineering (or business).
› Jobs envisioned the importance to put individuals
(problem-solving works rather than routine) before
Organizations, which was radical in early 80’s when
companies were looking for “Enterprise solutions”.
Bold Business Experimentations
› Controversial idea to move into retail.
› Similar attempts had spectacularly failed.
› Internet-based business models “App Store”.
› Entire industries were forced to accommodate Jobs’ vision.
› Generated highest revenue per square foot in the entire retail
sector.
Bold Business Experimentations
( Against Conventional wisdom )
› The Open source movement has been ignored by Apple.
› While opened up to outside developer communities “App
Store”.
› Apple suppliers learned a slip of the tongue can forfeit
business.
Apple’s Future
› Most of 2011 Steve Jobs was on medical leave.
› He passed away on October 5th 2011.
› Apple sold 172 million devices rather than PCs.
› It had 362 retail stores with <1million Daily visits.
Since 2011 till 2015, Apple kept its market
leadership by development while being
consistent with Jobs’-inspired culture of
unconventional way for innovation.
Thank you
Questions & Comments are
Welcomed
