Nothing quite compares with the attention given Apple since Steve Jobs' death. No modern brand has been endowed with more mythic properties. And many are anxious to conclude that the brand is today an empty bubble bereft of Jobs' charismatic genius.
Managers give constant lip service to the value and depth of teams in great businesses. At the same time, a big part of us always assumes there's some lone genius who really powers any breakthrough organization. Remove that force, and our confidence crumbles. This consideration can make it seem as if the Apple controversy boils down to the company's ability to perform with or without Jobs. The issue, however, is just not that simple.
We've thought hard about the prospects of the Apple brand in our daily conversations at G+G. Let me share some of the thoughts that are top-of-mind for us:
- Certainly, Apple can continue to come up with exceptional products and innovative features. There are doubtless many more refinements on the horizon that will improve the both the technology itself and the human feel of using it.
- Technology maturation moves ever more quickly. Not having Steve Jobs is surely important. An even more powerful force is that the "cool factor" Apple has enjoyed is eroding. Both the evolution of categories themselves and other competitive versions of key items are making the Apple edge less decisive than in the past.
- There's still huge room for technology to travel further. Many of those advances now take a different path. They move further from the strictly technological origins and into human applications as we . . . wear, sense and voice technology. Will Apple be as good in these next-stage refinements as they were in originating the original concepts? That remains to be seen.
If you want to consider a well-reasoned argument that emphasizes the merits of the Apple case, take a look at James Surowiecki's recent piece in the New Yorker titled "Eying Apple." (http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2013/03/04/130304ta_talk_surowiecki)
Apple could potentially enjoy a path like Starbucks. After all, Starbucks has 20,000+ stores in more than 60 countries. It's had its dips, but the franchise has surely shown its comeback character. Will the Apple brand franchise respond in the same way?
In the brand business, you always wonder. For a truly great brand, usually plenty is happening behind the scenes that's scarcely visible. In Apple's case, who knows what may be ready to blossom in their Cupertino orchard? However, one most also wonder: How likely is it any future innovations will justify the heady investor confidence Apple has experienced in the past?
