Why is the iPhone so successful?

mubo said:

I have read and joined the speculation, over the last few weeks about the next iPhone,
But who would you say is the person within Apple why these phones are so popular? I understand its a team effort but if you had to put the success with one person who would you choose?

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Steve Jobs.

he was the first recruiter for Apple.

but seriously, watch his keynotes from his comeback in '98 til now. This man is a genius.

As Eric Schmidt said a couple weeks ago, Steve Jobs is probably the best CEO in the last 100 years. He's literally up there with Edison, and Henry Ford.

You said it yourself. It's a TEAM of people. Some could argue Steve Jobs because he is CEO and has final say over everything that goes on. You could say Jonny Ives because of the beautiful designs. You could say the marketing team. You could say the iOS team.

The better question is WHAT makes the iPhone successful, not WHO.

And my answer to that is a number of things.

-Ease of use
-The Apple name
-Sleekness
-Marketing
-Apps
-Beauty
-Functionality
-Ecosystem
-Apple Stores
-Other products Apple sells
-The team within Apple

steve deserves credit for putting the team together. his greatest achievement isn't the iPhone or iPad, but the people who put those together. in this way, both he and the team are responsible for their shared success. apple's dna allows talent to work with talent, to help each other in ways that a normal corporate bureaucracy doesn't.

design - ives
marketing - shiller
operations - cook
iOS - forstall
os x - serlet (and now federighi)
itunes - cue
mac hw - mansfield (and i think rubenstein before)
retail/support - johnson

mubo said:

I have read and joined the speculation, over the last few weeks about the next iPhone,
But who would you say is the person within Apple why these phones are so popular? I understand its a team effort but if you had to put the success with one person who would you choose?

Click to expand...

Steve Jobs + Apple's marketing = success

It's probably the marketing that's making it (and almost all of their products) successful. Without the marketing, they don't succeed as much. Without Steve Jobs, it can still hold strong as long as their marketing stays.

It just works.

the iPhone is so successful because it's an iPhone. Because Steve Jobs and the rest of Apple has such fantastic marketing, and releases great products, and have captivated the consumers. They've created a following for themselves. So even when they screw up big time, like how they did with the iPhone 4, it'll still sell well...because it's an iPhone.

I have a Droid X and I went into a Verizon store the other day and played with the iPhone 4 for the first time (I've played with older ones in the past). I was amazed at how much better the touchscreen still is compared to Android phones that have come out much later. Even after all this time no one can match how fluid and responsive the screen is. One of the main reasons I want an iPhone.

Great marketing techniques and Steve Jobs of course

It's so popular because there was nothing like it before it came out - and people remember that. As for Apple, they have a good Model where they do not only focus about specs or on releasing a new phone every week.

aohus said:

Steve Jobs.

he was the first recruiter for Apple.

but seriously, watch his keynotes from his comeback in '98 til now. This man is a genius.

As Eric Schmidt said a couple weeks ago, Steve Jobs is probably the best CEO in the last 100 years. He's literally up there with Edison, and Henry Ford.

Click to expand...

Bravo really, Jobs deserves it.

Steve Job's part was big.
But ultimately, I think their software is the most biggest part of succession.

Very easy to use, user friendly.

I cant believe that even Apple folks are coming in here, buying the phandroid line, and stating the iPhone is successful cause of marketing.

The iPhone is successful because it's a damn good product. The end.

The operating system and the hardware are made by same company.

mubo said:

I have read and joined the speculation, over the last few weeks about the next iPhone,
But who would you say is the person within Apple why these phones are so popular? I understand its a team effort but if you had to put the success with one person who would you choose?

Click to expand...

The Designer

Combo of jobs and ive

Steve is the greatest orator of the last 100 years and his keynotes have got publicity it would cost ad agencies billions to buy, Steve's iPad 2 keynote made front pages all over the world

But the main reason for Apple success is the sexyness and the cool factor, whip out an iPhone at school or college and you are guaranteed to get a date and most likely have several girls fighting over you even if you are a ginger, take out an iPad in public you will have loads of people saying to you "omg wow is that an iPad ?"

Steve jobs.

He's the one that brought apple back up to the company it should have always been. He built an ecosystem for it which started with iTunes.

Then came the iPod. Then the macs got popular. And when the iPhone released, there was no phone that had so much inbuilt memory with a capacitive screen. And the rest of the iPhone releases have added the right amount of 'missing' features which have been enough for people to upgrade.

Not to mention, Jony Ive's brilliant designing skills in making all apple products ooze sex appeal.

And to me, I feel that steve jobs has played the most important part, because he has always said, we at apple make products that we would want to use as well. Whatever could be said of Job's excellent business skills, I still feel that they make products that they would love to use.

As with most Apple products, it's about design and marketing. No other company on the planet does a better job marketing their products than Apple. They find a need for a product, develop one that works and then market the hell out of it. Plain and simple.

Their marketing is so effective it turned the hater in me into a semi-quasi fanboy

Why is this thread about CEOs when the title asks about the iPhone? The inability to write coherently will be the downfall of mankind.

PCMag's Tim Bajarin and others offering their input as to why Apple collectively is so successful.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2391929,00.asp

Great insight, in my opinion.

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mcdj said:

Why is this thread about CEOs when the title asks about the iPhone? The inability to write coherently will be the downfall of mankind.

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If it was not for a certain CEO 17 years ago there would not even be an Apple today let alone the products we are getting so excited about.

Apple would be some sub division of Dell or HP churning out high end products for graphic designers and architects, there would be no iPod's no iPad's no iPhone's but for Steve Jobs rescuing Apple

Its Magic

haticK said:

I have a Droid X and I went into a Verizon store the other day and played with the iPhone 4 for the first time (I've played with older ones in the past). I was amazed at how much better the touchscreen still is compared to Android phones that have come out much later. Even after all this time no one can match how fluid and responsive the screen is. One of the main reasons I want an iPhone.

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But is that hardware.... Or is it just better underlying software driving the whole experience?

I think it is a package deal, apple controls the hardware and it makes the whole experience that much better. I don't have to think about it.