Saw this little gem today written by Don Lehman,
Innovation vs. Refinement.
You can read the full article
here after the jump
"Apple are relentless refiners. John Gruber described their refinement process as rolling. Start with a small tight idea (the core innovation) and slowly, thoughtfully roll improvements into that core when they are ready (the refinements).
Apple is so committed to refining that an entire version of OS X, 10.6 Snow Leopard, was marketed as a refinement over 10.5 Leopard. No new features just refinements, the biggest being that the size of the OS decreased by several gigabytes. Theyre so committed to refinements that the industrial design of the MacBook Pro they sell today (the non-retina version) is practically unchanged since the end of the George W. Bush administration, receiving only minor spec bumps since then.
Apple currently has three versions of the iPhone for sale. The 3GS, the 4, and the 4S. Each builds on the work of the previous model. The 3GS may have not been seen as a big innovation when it was released, but it improved on the iPhone 3G. The 4 was seen as a major release when compared to the 3GS, but the 4S was an incremental update.
All three of these phones build on Apples original vision of the iPhone. The hardware, software, specs, branding, marketing, and overall user experience gets a little better with each release. This refinement strategy helps generate actual profits. You get better at making the same thing year after year. You reduce parts. You streamline production. You make the messaging clearer. Consumers understand the narrative thread you have created and can follow along when you push new innovations.
Compare this with Samsung. Besides Apple, Samsung is currently the only successful smartphone manufacturer. (Dont believe me?
Look here.) Still, Samsung seems to me that they overemphasize innovation. They continuously release new form factors with new ideas about what the smartphone is. 5 screens, 3 screens, styluses, keyboards, projectors. Rarely does it feel like the thought process from one release carries over to the next release. They currently sell 148(!) models of both traditional cellphones and smartphones. If you take just their touchscreen Android smartphones, youre still left with 43 individual products. 43!"
Apple vs. Samsung cellular product lines.