Thursday 10 May 2012

What Apple has that Google doesn't





Nowadays, a lot of people are using Apple's product such as iphone, ipod, ipad and so on. Some of us have known that Apple is now the most valuable company in the world, but why? Why does Apple achieve so much like that? Is there some secrets for their successful? Let's see the difference between Apple and other companies such as Google, for example.


According to "The Auteur vs. the Committee" , the article in The New York times, which was written before Steve Jobs passed away, tell us what Apple has that Google doesn't. At apple, one person, Steven P. Jobs, the C.E.O., is the dec

ider for final design of all products, while at Google, they followed conventional method, there are committee to have collaborative decision. Two years ago, the technology blogger John Gruber presented a talk, “The Auteur Theory of Design”(¶4). He compared Apple's C.E.O. as an auteur, the director that has a vision and make all decisions in his movie, he implied in his theory that it's better to have one person to make all decision in design than to have many people in charge of decision.

This article shows the idea that successful work may not need to rely on a group of people or many people, on the other hand, it's possible to have only one decider who can strongly make a decision, Apple is one example of successful companies that Google can't beat because they use different method in management.

Although Apple is successful from the method of having only one person to decide everything about the design of the products, I think it's better to have a group of people or a committee to brainstorm ideas and make a decision together, because one who has such talent as Steve Jobs is rarely found and generally, having only one person to decide everything without consulting anyone might be a disaster to business. Furthermore, there is a risk in business if that person who is in charge leave the job or pass away like Jobs and no one know the way to decide, if there is a committee, more people know how to decide on their products and if someone leave the job, it isn't a big matter. In addition you can get more idea from the other as well. So, to apply this, if you think you have enough talent and are ready to challenge, just try it out, change the method to have one person decide everything. Maybe it will make your company grows faster than before.


References
The Auteur vs. the Committee. (2012, March 26). BBC News. Retrieved July 23, 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/technology/what-apple-has-that-google-doesnt-an-auteur.html

12 comments:

  1. I think if you want to do business your self-confidence is really important. In SME the abilty of adaptability is also significance, only one decision is fast and proficiency. I support the CEO to have the decision alone for doing business but he can also adivse from adviser. In some cases commitee can solve problem better than only one but i think not in business

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  2. My first thoughts on reading Pam's post were about how it relates to what we do in class, and more generally to what academics do, which is highly relevant to us. But I want to give others a chance to comment first, as Fair has already done with whose thoughtful response, with which I agree, to Pam's response.

    What do you think?

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    1. Hmmm ... That last sentence isn't very clear.
      The trouble is that halfway through the sentence, I changed my mind, and then forgot to revise the grammar of the first half to fit with the second half. An example of the danger of hitting "Publish" before you review your writing to check that it at least makes sense and is reasonably clear.

      I think you can guess what I meant, but it's probably bad writing if readers find it seriously difficult to work out what might be meant.

      A much clearer version of my ideas in the last sentence is: "But I want to give others a chance to comment first, as Fair has already done in his thoughtful response, with which I agree, to Pam's response."

      Much better grammar, and a much clearer sentence as a result, I hope. A couple of other "solutions" occurred to me, but I think this is the best. What do you think?

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    2. But, it's response writing, so we don't expect perfection. I had a lunch appointment at 12:00, and was in a bit of a hurry. I'm reviewing now that I'm a bit more relaxed.

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    3. Hmmmm... I think I also agree with you on fair's comment, but anyway, it's just my opinion. It can have many point of view on this, but, according to my post, what will happen if that only one person who control everything accidentally leave the job? If there is no people know the same way to him to decide, the company uniqueness maybe changed. If you have been brainstromed together before, it can be the same way and reduce some risks as well. What do you think? Fair and Peter?

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    4. And Peter, I suggest you to read the last part of P'Kon's comment too, it emphasizes one of my ideas furthermore.

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  3. It's not hard for other companies, not only goggle to have the same luck and success as Apple. It might not be a number of person that leads to a success of the company as Film's idea, I think a well-orgainsed system is very important. Human being cannot live alone in this worldwide. Although we've known Steve Job taking an important role on running Apple's business, without its staff, Today might not be a day of Apple. So, I agree with Pam that more brains and hands are better than only one.

    Our class can be a good model of a successful company. As without a mutual agreement of our classmates' ideas and Aj.Peter's good managerial system in each class of teaching and learning, how could we be sure that the new knowledge we get is the correct one. This leads us to reach an achievement.

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    1. Yes, I agree with you that maybe it doesn't matter how many people are there to make a decision, but it does matter on how well they manage the system. Thank you very much for giving me another factor that should be added into my post but I didn't and I like and agree with your second part of comment too. :)

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  4. It is very hard to say about the sucess in business. Now, Apple is the most valuable company, but it doesn't mean that it will be forever. From my opinion, the fist time Apple Company started with the idea of Steve Jobs to make a personal computer. But there are not the majority of the market share. Most of Personal Computer (PC) is runing with Windows Operation System. I think the sucess of the Apple Company come from the creative idea of Stave Jobs about how to communicate to the consumer that the Apple products is very good products. It is a good strategy of them. He represents that he is the consumer and explain to the public that Apple products make the good experience. It was begining with ipod. This is the good experience that this music player can store many of musics. After the suceed of this product, he presented the iphone. It is the smartphone with iOS. It is the new era of smartphone after the suceed of symbiam operation from Nokia. Then Google present the smartphone with Android. This is the competition of the smartphone. The competition between them is strong. Then, Apple unveils the ipad. Samsung unveil the Galaxy Tab. It is very crucial competition. Steve Jobs said, he swore to destroy Android. This is the begining of the lawsuit of Apple with competiter especially Samsung. Apple still be number one in in the market on ipad, but in the smartphone Samsung is number one in the market on Galaxy with Android. Furthermore, Microsoft unveils the new smartphone with Windows Phone 7. This is the huge competition. I think the next of the competition should be stronger. If Apple doesn't create the new experience to the consumer, it will make the company loss the valuable company.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you very much for your comment, there are many new knowledge for me here. At the end of your comment is what I've said in my post, "...there is a risk in business if that person who is in charge leave the job or pass away like Jobs and no one know the way to decide..." Thanks for emphasising my idea, I agree with you. Now there are huge competition on such gadgets and now Jobs has already passed away. If the new CEO isn't strong enough, the future of apple might be at risks. Google, which maybe doesn't grow as fast as Apple but has a teamwork, I think it is slow but firm.

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    2. pam,
      Thank you for pointing me to Kon's comment. It is a clear and strong statement. It's also one that I agree with.

      I think we see exactly the same thing in politics: it is the reason that a healthy democracy, with free speech allowing a lot of competing ideas to be stated and analysed and judged, and different things to be tried by different governments is not only always morally superior to every alternative, such as Singapore's sickly democracy, but also the reason it usually leads to the best economic and social development for a country - as the historical examples of the US and Western European countries show, and as China's rapid progress since moving from communist control to greater free market decision making also shows.

      A democracy is about people with different needs, desires, ideas, goals and values working out a way to work together, and that can be messy, but in fact it usually works out better than despotic control by a single person or party that refuses to allow alternative views or activities.

      Kon's explanation of how this works in the case of companies is very good - if Apple doesn't get another Steve Jobs, it might be lost, whereas Microsoft gets along perfectly well without Bill Gates.

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  5. One week ago tomorrow, my computer died. I had been hoping it would last until the next version of Windows came out, but it didn't. Running out to buy a new computer was a bit of a bother, but also fun. And after doing a little online research, I knew what I wanted, and that I could get it all at IT City in Pantip Plaza, where I went after my class on Sunday morning.

    A pleasant surprize was that four years after buying my last computer, the new one cost much less, including a very nice 27 inch Samsung monitor. It really was about time I upgraded.

    I also liked the forced move from Vista to Windows 7, and to MS Office 2010. But these software upgrades caused me some pain over the next few days. Although I use computers every day, and am fairly dependent on them, I'm not particularly good with them. I learn only what I need, and when I need it, which means I'm prone to making mistakes, sometimes costly mistakes in time, when I'm under pressure to learn something new. I would have liked to make the change to a new computer and upgraded software during one of the AUA weeks off, not in the middle of a busy term.

    Thankfully, the worst is now over. I've managed to get everything reinstalled on the new system, and I can at least use the new software for the things I need. I might leave further experimentation for another couple of weeks. I would hate to repeat the sort of mess up I made on Wednesday evening.

    Happily, I'm now reasonably up do date again with everything, having just sent done the last essay review that was pending. It's a great relief. It's Saturday night, and I usually go out with friends, but I think I'll just stay in, watch a mindless movie to soothe my brain, and have and early night. Oh, and blog a little: perhaps just a very little.

    I was going to say something about why I chose Microsoft again, after looking at the gorgeous large screen Macs available, but that can wait.

    And now I'll also have more time to plan more homework. I think two small academic writing assignments sounds good for Monday.

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