The Innovation of Innovation

When thinking of a creative brand, Apple comes to mind. It has innovation written all over it. From reconstructing the way we see MP3 players to a whole new format for computers, Apple seems to have the golden touch.

First, let’s talk about the innovation aspect. Until maybe about 7 or 8 years ago, Apple wasn’t close to what it’s become today, or at least in my eyes it wasn’t. When I was in elementary and middle school I absolutely despised working on Apple computers. They were slow, they were set up weird, and I didn’t understand them. Dell computers were so much better. Besides computers, nothing else Apple made existed to me. I had never heard of any other products.

Then sometime in high school the iPod became huge. The closest thing I had to an MP3 player at the time was a CD player that could play CDs with MP3 files on it. Only a few of my friends had MP3 players anyway, most of us just stuck to the good ol’ CD player. Within a few months EVERYONE had an iPod. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Apple somehow managed to innovate the idea of a somewhat popular MP3 player into a must-have item with the iPod. They completely took the MP3 player industry by storm and left competitors without the slightest chance.

After the iPod took off it seemed Apple was everywhere. They seemed to come out with a new version of the iPod every few months, with the mini, the nano, the video, etc, that I couldn’t keep up. Before I knew it my pretty blue iPod was about four times the size of the new ones, so I gave in and bought another one. At least one of my reasons for buying was for the better battery life and not so completely vain. This leads back to the article, “The New, Faster Face of Innovation.” With the fact that testing new ideas has become so cheap and easy, Apple seems to be spitting out new products (or new versions of current products) like there’s no tomorrow. It seems like every other person I bump into has an iPhone, which I still refuse to blow that much money on. Yet.

The creativity side of Apple has a big impact on the company’s success. Every product they come out with has the same sort of idea of a clean, easy-to-use look. When you see one of their products, you usually know it’s by Apple just by the style. They use the same simple patterns which helps make their products easily identifiable. And they seem to have a way to customize just about every product. They’ve got a million different designed covers for their macbooks, cool covers for iPods (along with the fact that they come in different colors anyway), and so much more. This company has creativity wrapped around its finger.

Although I used to hate those slow, confusing Apple computers, I’ll definitely admit that that has changed. I’ve got my iPod that I probably use on a daily basis (a necessity for working out), and my macbook that I absolutely love (Dell is not nearly as cool anymore). I even used to have a pink cover for my laptop until it pretty much turned black from dirt and broke during an accidental dropping of my computer (oops). At least my laptop is fixed now, thanks to the amazing Genius Bar Apple so creatively came up with and my awesome warranty that has come in handy more often than I could have hoped for. So are innovation and creativity a key aspect for success? Absolutely.