Name: 蘋果的大理論 (The Grand Theory of Apple)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T08:23:21.000Z
Duration: 8 min 25 s
Description: 【看影片學英語】數萬部 YouTube 影片，搭配英漢字典即點即查，輕鬆掌握單字發音與用法，長久累積看電影不必再看字幕。

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For many people, Apple is a confusing company:

On one hand, it's an unquestionable success - creating and then dominating entire categories

of products, and making more money than any other business in the world.

But somehow it also seems unable to understand its customers: removing features we love,

neglecting its own products, and making bizarre trade-offs we never asked for.

So how can the world's most profitable company also be so foolish?

Many would say they can afford these mistakes because of their exceptional marketing.

Others see them as disorganized and distracted, really only coasting on earlier success.

These feelings are everywhere on the internet, and frankly, they're understandable.

By being such a secretive company, they sacrifice the chance to explain themselves, leaving

But theories like these only raise more questions: If the goal is simply marketing to maximize

They should be using their brand to sell anything and everything, like Samsung.

And why remove things like the headphone jack?

These are very deliberate decisions, yet they guarantee far more negative press than they

Foolish as they sound, there must be some kind of strategy here, it would take a miracle

for a truly dysfunctional company to be this successful for this long.

Which makes sense: companies this big aren't driven so much by individual employees as

So, you may hate their strategy, think they're overpriced, and disagree with every decision

they make, but by no means are they careless or arbitrary.

The only way to make sense of all this - to understand their success, predict their future,

and even explain their mistakes is to figure out how they think.

And just three principles are enough to explain almost everything.

Apple is treated as a technology company,

But it would also be ridiculous to say its goals are anything like other technology companies.

Their business may involve transistors and resistors, but from their perspective, this

Technology is actually the enemy - a distraction, a source of confusion.

In the ideal world, no-one cares about RAM, or even knows they're using a computer:

they're just drawing, or reading, or talking.

This may sound idealistic, but consider how much it explains:

It's why they're obsessed with making devices thin, light, and minimalistic.

Removing ports, bezels, and even buttons.

Because from their perspective, each device is fundamentally competing in the same category.

Which their executive Phil Schiller said quite openly:

“The job of the watch is so you don't need to pick up your phone as often,

The job of the phone is to do more and more things such that maybe you don't need your

The job of the iPad is to be so powerful and capable that you never need a notebook,

The job of the notebook is to make it so you never need a desktop”

Each device has the goal of moving in this direction of smaller, less confusing technology

by making it's more bulky, confusing neighbor obsolete.

They've been so slow to update desktops because, well, they're the furthest from

their vision of what a computer should be.

There's a huge group of fans and customers who think Apple has changed, that they're

now obsessed with making devices thinner at whatever cost.

But this was always the goal, it's just now becoming technically possible to do so.

And their products may overlap with competitors now, but make no mistake: the second it's

possible to remove what they see as an unnecessary distraction, they will.

And as it becomes easier to do so, they're going to look less and less like a technology

When Steve Jobs came back to the company in 1997, it was a mess: they were

selling a million different products with no clear strategy.

So he simplified the entire company into one simple chart.

They would make only one computer for each market, but it would be really good.

They've grown much bigger since then and they've had to expand that strategy.

But compared to their competitors, they're still extremely focused, to the point of leaving

Their brand alone they could sell just about anything, but they choose very selectively

Even a good idea is not enough to justify their making it - they have to believe it's

This constant fear of over-complicating things is what allows them to put so much time and

They're able to plan years and years ahead this way, investing in features that won't

see the light of day until far into the future.

And if they decide something no longer justifies their time and attention, you wake up and

It's not that Apple doesn't listen to feedback,

or even sometimes ask for it, but ultimately, they consider their judgement more important

This may seem incredibly stupid, but it's actually the biggest key to their success,

because without it, they could've only been successful once.

Many companies create a very successful product, but they milk it for as long as possible by

After Microsoft created Windows, they did exactly this.

They're obviously doing just fine, but it meant they weren't ready when the smartphone

Apple does just the opposite, they're constantly trying to compete with themselves.

Any other company would kill for the success of the iPod, but Apple killed the iPod, with

No one product lasts forever, so while it hurts to kill your own success, it's necessary

This means not listening to your customers asking for a better iPod, and instead creating

This can be a really tough pill to swallow, especially in more tangible forms - the removal

the floppy drive, CD drive, the old charger, home button, headphone jack, and USB-A.

People were angry, often for good reason: these seem like needless sources of frustration.

But they also know they're powerful enough to survive these transitions.

They can afford to lose some customers and receive some negative PR.