Simply Speaking: Shorts #1 - The "flop" that became a global hit
If your plan is simply to survive for the day, week, month or quarter and kick the can forwards, you won’t make this product.
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iPhone: 3 in 1
A triumph of acumen
A triumph of judgement
A triumph of courage
Incorrect predictions, unexpected outcomes, faulty prophesies, sheer happenstance and plain misjudgment all these have a place in the history of Big Tech. But above all innovators move markets with confidence. In January 2007, Steve Jobs introduced a revolutionary ‘three in one’ product:
First - A wide-screen iPod with touch controls.
Second - A fabulous mobile phone.
Third - A never before Internet communications device.
He called it the iPhone. It was a touch screen, a music player, a phone, and Internet access and more.
Steve Ballmer - Microsoft CEO - prophesied that there was no chance of it gaining any market share traction given its pricing.
A market research report by Universal McCann on a big sample of ten thousand respondents declared that it would flop.
In sum, the consensus was that where multiple available devices were sophisticated and affordable, people would not want one device.
When you could have a great cell phone, a great digital camera and an MP3 player why would you prefer a one size fits all product with no claims to being superior in any of the three?
Expertise ranks above versatility, this was the view.
But we now know that the iPhone was not a flop.
Apple’s iPhone business was, within less than a decade, worth more than Microsoft.
In the history of mankind there has never been a more commercially successful device. So much for predictions.
Apple had spent billions of dollars and five years designing a product that people could not want.
What lessons are to be learned?
Firstly, innovation needs creativity.
Secondly, that creativity ought to explore new approaches.
Finally , all new approaches have inherent risk.
Risk tolerance is a type of courage, a willingness to confront potential failures.
Fear and vulnerability can foster a culture of conformity, where people avoid stepping outside their comfort zones. Everyone agrees but they know they have the wrong answer.
If your plan is simply to survive for the day, week, month or quarter and kick the can forwards you won’t make an iPhone.
Shubhranshu Singh is CMO, Tata Motors CVBU. He writes Simply Speaking, a column on Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.
