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John Iannacone

University Writing 1102

Ms. Santiago

April 25, 2017

How did Steve jobs make apple innovative and how has planned obsolescence affected the

company?

What really is innovation? Is it the demand to make a new product or to make

improvements to an old model? The answer is complicated but it is based around taking an

item that already exists, redesigning it to be more user friendly, to upgrade it with the latest

technology, and then selling the idea to the public. The question posed is in regards to how Steve

Jobs made the company innovative in his time as CEO. Some research information can be found

referring to a new word that can be tied to the tech giant which is obsolescence. Innovation and

obsolescence will be discussed in detail to truly understand which is relevant to the company

today. Steve Jobs was an innovative mastermind that through hard work and determination found

that he could make a great product that would create the company now known as Apple. Now

that he is gone, innovation has left and planned obsolescence has taken over. How did Steve Jobs

make Apple innovative and how has planned obsolescence now affected the company?

Steve Jobs was a man of humble beginnings that could easily win over almost anyone

with his sales skills. Jobs began his work after dropping out of college in 1972 after only one

semester (The Telegraph). For several years he attended various conferences about computing

and in 1976 the Apple 1 was created. (Misa) From that time forward both Steve and Wozniak

worked together to build the company we now know as Apple. Throughout the years Jobs

worked on many different projects and struck many deals as he was a good salesman even if he
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knew that at the time he could not deliver. It was this sense of determination and diligence that

got him recognition for his hard work. Steve believed in simplicity as well as innovation, he had

a way with his products to where he made them be deceptively simple (Ristino 2). Simplicity

as referring to easy to use by anyone and a sleek design that would be timeless. Steve always

believed in striving for great results as opposed to just being good enough for the demands of the

time. The day of average is over. Average only guarantees below average results (Gallo).

When Jobs returned to Apple the company was in shambles and was on the verge of bankruptcy

due to mismanagement. The problem within the company was that the supply of products was

high but the demand was low driving prices down creating less profit margin. Soon he began

slimming down the lineup and began innovating new products one of which being the iPod. At

the time there were other mp3 players but none that rivaled the iPod. It featured a stainless steel

housing and tactile buttons with a scroll wheel and could be configured to ten gigabytes of

storage which was equivalent to roughly two thousand songs (Edwards). The iPod was not

necessarily a new product in the technological world, but Steve had innovated on the design of

older products to make one that was user friendly and of a high quality standard. This standard is

what Steve Jobs lived by which could be seen in all the products of his time.

The opportunity of Apple turned into one of the most profitable technology companies to

date (Kell). Steve had several innovative secrets of which were the guidelines of how he

conducted business. These innovative secrets were Do what you love, put a dent in the universe,

creativity is connecting things, say no to 1000 things, create insanely great experiences, master

the message, and to sell dreams not products (Gallo). By saying do what you love simply means

pick a field that is truly interesting and profitable, stick with it and achieve various goals.

Choosing an interesting field is key to long-term success as it will never feel like work. Steve
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jobs put a dent in the universe by striving to put a computer in the hands of everyday people

(Gallo). In other words, help to bring knowledge to ordinary people with the assistance of

technology. Creativity is connecting things through experiences that different people gain, great

things can come that others might have missed. This idea is greatly important because when

people interconnect and work together more can be gained than if a single person works on

something. The next secret is that innovation comes from saying no to 1000 things (Gallo). In

other words, sometimes the first idea or plan is not the best and that multiple stages of trial and

error as well as design should be completed before a final decision is come to. This idea could

be seen when Steve returned to Apple, cut down on current products and began designing

something new. His next secret was to make great experiences by wowing the audience. To do

this he created a great mix of atmosphere both in stores and online when the internet became

available along with a support network to help customers in need. At many Apple events

workshops were held to get the users closer to the product to gain a better understanding as well

as become involved. The next secret goes hand in hand with the experience which is mastering

the message. Steve Jobs was a good speaker and was able to sell almost any idea he came up

with. To be able to sell an idea you must have to social skills to back up an idea to make it

reality. Last but not least Sell dreams not products (Gallo). Steve said the stores are not

meant to sell computers but instead to enrich lives (Gallo). The idea behind this statement is

that if you build a product with the mindset of easily usable, aesthetically pleasing, and built to a

high quality standard then you will be able to win over the people with a product (Gallo). Steve

felt that innovation was key to making a good product that would not only sell well but would

also bring back those customers in the future as they knew they would be buying a quality

product.
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Apple is a company that made its debut in April of 1976 when Jobs and Wozniak

introduced the Apple One and came to a deal with a small computer shop who bought fifty

models at five hundred dollars each. The selling price was set at six hundred and sixty-six

dollars and sixty-six cents. The risk was high as Steve knew that he did not have the resources to

complete the order. Steve did not give up though, as he sourced the parts he needed, innovated

the product and was able to pay back for the 30-day loan period he had received. Once the order

was filled the computers lacked a keyboard, monitor, a case, and really any other component

other than the motherboard itself. Once fully build these computers were what showed Jobs

innovative skills and propelled Apple forward towards a successful future (Rawlinson). The next

generation of computer dubbed the Apple II was in a sense a perfected version of the Apple I

with more powerful internals and a true casing or shell. Due to the innovation of this model, it

also had a higher price tag because of the internals and because it had the first spreadsheet

processor on a computer (Rawlinson). For several years Apple began jumping around from what

Steve wanted to make versus what the rest of the company wanted which caused strife and

ultimately ended in Jobs being left behind. For the time that Steve was away, he worked on

several side companies to help bring them to profitability or to being joined with larger

companies. In the limbo time for Apple, windows began to gain steam and was surpassing the

tech company with their new operating system Windows 3 (Rawlinson). When Steve returned in

the mid 1980s Apple was in shambles. The once innovative company had lost its way and was

spiraling downward towards a path of bankruptcy. Jobs had to act quickly to restore his

company back to profitability.

In the early 2000s Apple became known as one of the main companies of innovation.

When the Apple iPod was released, it set the stage for future devices to come. Many credit the
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iPod as not being the first mp3 player, but as the most user friendly and innovative product on

the market with quality in mind. The iPod was an instant hit and fit the needs of many for a

portable music playing device. By 2011 the company had already sold more than 304 million

iPods worldwide (Edwards). Fast forward to the year 2007 when the next major innovative

move was made by Apple with the first iPhone dubbed the iPhone 2G for its 2G cellular

connectivity abilities (Ritchie). When introduced, Steve because of pricing reasons wanted both

a 4 gigabyte and an 8 gigabyte model. Later it was felt that dropping the 4 gigabyte model in

favor of the 8 with a price drop to make it more available to people. This was considered one of

the greatest innovative products to ever come out of the company as it was far ahead of its time.

At the time it was the only phone of its type with superior design quality to anything else that

could even come close. Even today nearly ten years later, the device is still usable. In 2010 Jobs

released his next innovative product which was the iPad (G.L). At the time Steve was

questionable on whether or not there would be a market for such a product but in the end his

decision to continue forward proved to be profitable. Almost immediately schools, businesses,

and medical related offices began to use the product as it offered a wide variety of productivity

applications that could be used in place of a traditional computer or laptop for light day to day

tasks. Soon after the iPad 1s release, Steves health began to decline which brought his life of

innovation and perseverance to an end on October 5th 2011 (Allen 4). Today some of the

products he had a part in can still be seen all of which have a story in the history of both the

company and him.

With Steve Jobs gone a new era began for the technological giant. Once Steve stepped

down from his position as CEO, Tim Cook took over in his place. (Lashinsky) Very soon after,

changes started to take place both positive and negative. While Steve liked to focus on usability
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and upgradability for the end user, Tim more so focuses on the sleekness and aesthetic of a

product (Matt). Both have their place, but need to be balanced and in the case of Tim, the end

user tends to suffer from a lack of the peripherals that Steve wanted and felt people needed in

their products. Some of these things revolve around ports on the products or optical drives. This

lack of balance can be seen today in many Apple products as well as a lack of innovation which

leads into the next topic of planned obsolescence.

Planned obsolescence is an idea based around a product whatever it may be, once it has

been manufactured has a life span only as long as it is still usable and whether or not

upgradability is a possibility for the future (the economist); In simpler terms the shelf life of a

product. The products focused on within this report revolves around computing devices both

mobile and stationary. Innovation ties into obsolescence because without technological

innovation, a product will become unusable much sooner than a product with the latest

technology built in. A notable example can be seen with some older laptops that kept

upgradability and reparability when designed a high priority for the user. Some of these devices

could have nearly every component upgraded including Apple products so that a person with a

lower budget could afford a decent computer, save up, then buy the parts to suit their needs for

the time. Compared to Apple computers, Windows computers still tend to be relatively

upgradable but year after year more and more components can be seen being soldered to the

motherboard as opposed to being removable. There are many reasons for this of which can be

beneficial such as being lighter, thinner, and a better form factor to save space while still having

the same size screen (Kahnley). The downside is when something does break, the whole device

must be replaced as no single component can be removed.

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Does planned obsolescence affect Apple today? Even through Steve Jobs innovation,

when he was still CEO, the company began to undergo some small changes that were considered

planned obsolescence making it harder to get into Apple products. These changes were minimal

for the duration that Steve was still in charge as components could still be replaced and upgraded

for max performance. The plan is to get users to upgrade their technology sooner than really

needed (Kahney). In 2012 Apple introduced their new lineup of MacBook Pros of which were

significantly thinner than past models but cut down on the number of ports, eliminated the

optical drive, as well as soldered the ram to the motherboard making it much less upgradable

than before (Smith and Jacqueline). The argument can be made that components on a

motherboard that are stationary will last much longer than those that can be removed which in

some cases is true. There is a problem with this though as when a motherboard fails, a

replacement part can cost nearly as much as just buying a new device. With older devices it was

possible to transfer old components that still worked, over to the new device. With older Mac

systems the optical drive could be replaced with a secondary hard drive for more storage and

faster speeds and the ram could be upgraded giving the end user the power to do as they pleased.

The newer Mac systems only have one removable component of which is the hard drive. This

hard drive is specially made by apple so any replacement must be sourced by Apple. As Apple

ushered in the latest generation of MacBook Pro, the design became even thinner offering only 2

ports for the base model and 4 on the upgraded model. The ports only consist of USB C which is

still a relatively new type of port on which not many devices use. Along with this the hard drive

is now also soldered to the motherboard making any upgradability completely impossible for the

average user (Wollman). There is no denying the ascetically pleasing aspects of the sleek design
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but innovation is not present with only looks being the primary goal rather than helping the user

as Steve Jobs did.

On the other hand, for Apple, one must understand that they have to be profitable to be

able to keep the company alive. Although it goes against Steve Jobs goal as the company leader,

it is what must be done sometimes to keep a company afloat. In their eyes, their goal is to

release a product that will good enough for the needs of the time and be presentable with good

quality in mind. Through its software and product lines, Apple emphasizes high quality and

accessibility. The company prides itself on its knowledgeable sales representatives that offer

assistance in finding whatever Apple product a consumer feels they may need (Gupta and

Prinzinger 216). Even though this is the case, many other companies such as Best Buy offer the

same support with their Geek Squad which are also knowledgeable on a wide variety of devices

including Apple products. Another issue is that even with the helpful team at Apple stores, they

are not truly as helpful as one may think. The end goal of the tech support at the stores it to make

the customer buy a new device rather than fix what they already have. Although innovation

seems to be lacking today, the company is very good at selling the idea of a product, an idea that

Steve Jobs held very close. He felt that even with a great product, it will not sell without a good

presentation. People continue to flock to the company as the customer support mentioned earlier

is extremely helpful and the team at the Apple store know how to solve a problems or know

someone else who can help. Even though many people feel like the companys innovative skills

have been in decline, there is still a massive following of devoted customers that for various

reasons will always stick with the company. Some of these reasons include but are not limited to

an easy to understand operating system, very private and secure mobile devices and high quality

devices that last for a long time.

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Apple prides themselves even today as being new and innovative when around them,

other companies are coming out with comparable and even better products than the Apple

devices themselves. An example being the latest iPad Pro versus the Microsoft Surface Pro.

Both of which are very capable devices but the Surface pro was released before the iPad Pro and

featured newer internals and the Surface Pen. Apple followed Microsofts footsteps and adopted

the idea of the Surface Pro to become the iPad pro and created the Apple Pen to be competitive

and innovative.

Although Apple must remain profitable, the end of upgradability was the start of

obsolescence for Apple. When Steve Jobs left, upgradability became increasingly scarce until

there was none at all for the devices. Some do not take issue to this as their availability of funds

is at a point where it is affordable to replace a device every year or every other year. For the

majority of people this is not the case as the computers and or laptops bought are meant to last

for four to five years; sometimes longer. There is hope as there is a way to avoid this issue.

Apple could begin to offer their products with better specifications at a lower price point. In all

likelihood this would never happen as then profit margins would be lower and people would hold

onto their product longer causing loss of sales. The end goal of companies (not just Apple) is that

they are banking on the idea that the user will buy a product knowing that it will last for only a

few years, then that user will have to come back and upgrade again allowing the company to

continue making profits.

Innovation and planned obsolescence are closely tied together and affect Apple directly.

For the years that Jobs was with the company, many innovative products such as the Apple I,

Apple II, iPod, iPhone, the iPad, and the MacBook line became a reality. The products fulfilled

Steves wants by not being average, The day of average is over. Average only guarantees below
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average results. (Gallo) He lived by that motto as the products were simple, elegant, and build

to last for years to come. He had the end user in mind by trying to understand what the people

wanted rather than what he thought would just look good. Once Steve left and changes to the

company were underway, a lot of the things he strove for were no longer there. It was as if the

products made were more for a display glass than they were for usability. Although many of the

products post-Jobs are relatively fast, aesthetically pleasing and lighter than their predecessors,

they lack Jobs goal of having the end user in mind when designing the product. Many times Jobs

wanted to make products the best they could be at the lowest price possible to make them more

attainable to everyday people and to build a so called following (Rawlinson). The products

today lack any opportunity for learning in regards to disassembling electronics and upgrading

them. This lack of upgradability is why planned obsolescence is a problem that will affect some

people. As time goes on, programs become bigger, more documents are stored, more ram is

needed to run programs and when all of those configurations on a computer are non-upgradable,

the user then suffers because more money must be spent to keep up with the needs of the time.

Jobs was a man that after dropping out of college began working in his parents garage to

build the multibillion dollar company that we all know today. Planned obsolescence does in fact

affect the company and will continue to for the foreseeable future. Until the company begins to

offer products with better configurations for lower prices, the end user will continue to suffer in

regard to having to buy new products only after a couple of years. Steve was not an inventor but

rather a great innovator for the world. Many felt that he liked to push people which is true as he

said we push people to do great things and we have gotten some amazing things done.

(Isaacson). It was this motivation and effort that helped Jobs become the man he was and build

the company to its current day status as a tech giant.

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