Apple, like any other start up company, started with a vision and a target product that they believed would ultimately lead to their success. Apple’s vision product was the personal computer, but this is not what led to their success. Revolutionizing the way people carried and acquired their music is what led to Apple’s successful boom.
It all began with the iPod, which allowed people to carry their entire music collection in a little gadget, rather than having to pick out certain CD’s that they wanted to listen throughout the day. This product was a hit. Apple, once again revolutionized the music industry with the integration of iTunes, which gave people the ability to purchase and download songs online. This led Apple into becoming the leader in the music downloading industry.
Disruptive technologies can be important for companies in their quest for success, since these are innovations that companies with a strong hold in the industry refuse to try. The orthodoxy that Steve Jobs was skeptical of was that consumers would never be willing to rent music. But companies such as Spotify and Pandorabegan streaming and renting music to consumers leading to their success, loosening Apple’s grip of the music industry. The music market went from music downloading to music streaming.
In trying to stay viable in the music industry transformation, Apple has had to think of ways to continue to stay in the game. Music was the origin of Apple’s success, and Apple does not want to become obsolete in the industry that led to success. Apple has gone back to its music roots with its business purchase of Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion.
Beats Electronics is a premier headphone company that tries to connect the music experience to the consumer. Currently it has streaming service that is unlike the others. It focuses greatly on personalizing the experience of the consumer. When people use the service, it gives them a playlist based on requests rather than simply suggesting a new song to the user.
Although it is unclear how Beats will be incorporated into Apple, it can be expected that this will change the industry once more. Apple is an artist friendly company, while Beats has formed many relationships with the artist community. Apple’s iTunes has been around for a long time, allowing it to collect millions of music user preferences. This data incorporated with the personalization Beats streaming music can provide will lead to a completely different music experience.
Apple’s products are not as exciting as they once were. They have lost their innovative appeal. This acquisition can lead to big things and more competitive products in the music streaming industry.
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