How Apple Exemplifies a Culture of Love Over Greed
A quick follow-up on my post about love, greed and innovation.
In some discussions since, I’ve pointed to Apple as an example of how greed is trumped by love. It may seem surprising to think of a multi-billion dollar corporation, famed for its premium products and ruthless business practices, as being motivated by love, but there are a number of things that show this is true.
First, there’s the Netbook category. Apple are not making one because they “don’t see a way to build a great product for … $399 [or] $499″, according to Tim Cook, Apple’s COO. Note that he didn’t say “we don’t see a way to make money“, just that the product wouldn’t be “great”.
Then, consider this quote from Jonny Ive1, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design:
“Apple’s goal isn’t to make money. Our goal is to design and develop and bring to market good products…We trust as a consequence of that, people will like them, and as another consequence we’ll make some money. But we’re really clear about what our goals are.”
I think this perfectly encapsulates why Apple’s products can so often be game-changers, and how they can come to a market late and yet still dominate people’s conception of how good a product can be.
Clearly, someone as rich as Steve Jobs is greedy, but his primary motivation is creating products that he can be proud of. The money flows from that.
1 Hat tip: Mark Rock
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About the author
James is a Creative Technologist at Made by Many. He is a reformed .NET developer.
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Comments (6)
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Responses (0)
Do you think Apple’s refusal of several iPhone app submissions is due to love or greed? Just playing Devil’s Advocate ;)
Alex MacCaw
August 3, 2009
at 12:01 pm
I think it’s out of misguided love ;) I think they think that certain app devalue the platform and make it less of an awesome product. Obviously, I think they are mistaken and hopefully the FCC will penalise them for the Google Voice app removal. A truly open iPhone would be awesome.
james
August 3, 2009
at 12:38 pm
Sounds more like good marketing than “love”.
Between suing someone for legally reselling the Apple OS (because they were installed on PC machines), pretty stringent DRM on anything through iTunes, and their policies on corporate secrecy that lead to the death of an employee at one of their manufacturers, I think its sugar-coated greed.
The love is in the design and the exclusionary culture, but to say its love over greed is a bit naive.
Sharlene
August 6, 2009
at 11:45 am
@sharlene: there are many things about the way Apple does business that frustrate me and many other Apple fans. iPhone developers are a particularly disgruntled group at the moment.
To be strictly accurate, Apple abandoned DRM on music in iTunes some time ago. It’s still there on movies at the insistence of the studios – Apple are faced with the choice of either having DRM or not having any movies.
To be absolutely clear: my point is that Apple’s love of great industrial design trumps their desire to make money. If they can’t make a product meet their standards of design, they don’t release it, regardless of how much money they could make if they did. I’m not saying they’re a bunch of exemplary humanitarians or anything.
james
August 6, 2009
at 12:32 pm
Read this:
http://calacanis.com/2009/08/08/the-case-against-apple-in-five-parts/
Expansive post that that finishes up with:
“Making great products does not absolve you from technology’s cardinal rule: Don’t be evil.”
I have trouble feeling like a ‘fan’ of any operating system or piece of hardware, but reading this I realise that maybe there is no longer the clear-cut good/evil distinction I used to feel about Apple/Microsoft.
Tim
August 9, 2009
at 6:10 pm
There’s an excellent rebuttal of Calacanis’s post from Marco Arment here: http://www.marco.org/159321665
The bottom line is that Apple have flaws as all other companies do. In their case, the biggest flaw – in my opinion – is obsessive secrecy and control. But that is also in many ways their greatest strength. From control comes quality.
Maybe I should do a post on the app store – I’m by no means at all suggesting that it is run well; quite the opposite.
james
August 10, 2009
at 12:39 pm