A fellow classmate, Victoria Jiang, published “What is Apple’s Magic?” explaining the reasons why Apple is successful at satisfying their customer segment. She provides the following reasons to support her claim: “iPhone7 is waterproof[,]” “Apple’s value proposition is to make customer’s life more convenient. 3D touch is another good example[,]” and “the competition [between Apple and Samsung] forced Apple to research and develop not only a brand new system—IOS… but also a more attractive marketing strategy.”
I have to disagree with her first claim because “Apple’s Magic” does not revolve around a waterproof phone, and I don’t believe it should be addressed as a supporting claim mainly because it’s not a new innovation. The first waterproof smartphone was the Sony Xperia Z released in February 2013, reaching 4.6 million sales within 40 days of its release, which didn’t come close to the 5 million sales iPhone 5 achieved during the first three days of release.
Although I support Jiang’s latter claim about Apple’s value proposition, I still think it could be more specific than just “3D touch” or “waterproof.” In fact, we (the readers) have no clue how she came up with this information, her article is merely an opinion supported by zero external resources. Nevertheless, Jiang does propose a very insightful topic but doesn’t do a great job at communicating her ideas nor supporting them with evidence.
Simon Sinek performed a Ted Talk titled “Start with Why,” in which he explains exactly why
companies like apple are successful and how they obtain the loyalty of their customer segment.
He claims the main reason companies like apple are successful is because (you guessed it) they start with why. To the right is the diagram he proposed, and is also what I will refer to in order to explain his thesis. Most companies begin with brainstorming what product or service they should offer, then how they will produce it, and finally why they decided to produce it and why the company even exists. The secret is to start with the value proposition, or with “why” as Sinek says. “Why do you get out of bed in the morning, and why should anyone care?” are the words Sinek used to explain the purpose of a business.
To tie that back to what Jiang’s post was meant to offer, Apple started out their business with “Why.” They pay more attention to their value proposition and why they believe they’re the best, and that is Apple’s magic. Jiang was on the right track, claiming apple’s success emerges through their value proposition and ease of use. Unfortunately, she didn’t properly explain nor persuade the reader why her claims should be accepted.
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References
Correspondent, NDTV. “Sony Xperia Z Sales Top 4.6 Million In 40 Days: Report”. NDTV Gadgets360.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.
Rushe, Dominic. “Iphone 5: Apple Sells 5M In First Three Days”. the Guardian. N.p., 2016. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.
“Start With Why — How Great Leaders Inspire Action | Simon Sinek | Tedxpugetsound”. YouTube. N.p., 2016. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.
Image Source
“Start With Why Diagram – Google Search”. Google.ca. N.p., 2016. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.