Be sure to see WorkingWider’s latest update on Apple:  Apple’s 2012 Business Strategy If you’re an Apple fan, put aside any expectations for dramatic new product introductions next year.  My bet is in 2011, Apple hardware will see only incremental improvements and cost reductions.  You can also be sure that Apple marketing strategy will tout [...]

Shortly after receiving the birth announcement of my fifth grandchild, Ms. Clover Newton, I watched Fareed Zakaria ask his studio audience if they thought their children would be better off than they were.  Not one hand went up. Welcome to the world Ms. Clover. As a nation, we are losing our competitive edge as we [...]

Apple rocked the world with the iPhone introduction in January, 2007.  At the time, smartphone leaders Nokia, Blackberry and Palm were squeezing email and PC content on to tiny screens. Apple expanded the screen, added navigation gestures followed by thousands of apps that transformed the small device into an expansive experience. If there’s any company [...]

Apple’s success comes from how effectively they’ve accelerated time-to-value; not time-to-market. After less than eighty days on the market, Apple’s iPad sold three million units.  In contrast, Apple began tablet research before they began iPhone development.  That would imply the iPad’s time-to-market is well over four years. Apple has consistently reduced their time-to-value.  It took [...]

What can you do when competitive boundaries change dramatically?  Let’s take a look at the challenges and choices facing Netflix as their market shifts from DVDs to digital distribution. In doing so, we’ll see how environmental boundary changes can quickly overpower the best business and organization models. How Netflix Won Netflix’s initial success can seem [...]

Procter & Gamble sources 50% of new product ideas from outside Starbucks is in Safeway and down the street GE Propulsion sells propulsion rather than jet engines Netflix now distributes movies over the Web as well as CDs Cummins makes power generators as well as diesel engines Facebook’s opens API’s to developers such as Zynga [...]

Yesterday morning Apple announced that they “…are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code.”  Effectively, they removed the words they added to their April development agreement that blocked Adobe Flash apps.  This change will also make it easier for [...]

Globalization intensifies competition.  It can seem like every day some competitor is offering a new feature or product that you don’t have.  The natural tendency is to fight back by adding what’s missing to your product or service.  What sets the above companies apart is they win by offering less. Don’t go into Trader Joe’s [...]

Apple’s iPhone 4 is a stunning product. It also has issues.  Consumer Reports cites it as the best smartphone on the market along with a big “but”.  The “but” is that while the iPhone 4 is very smart, it’s not a reliable phone.  They found a serious design defect with the metal strip antenna that [...]

A strong partner of working wider is thinking wider. This post examines how companies and leaders differentiate themselves. One of my favorite tasks each month is participating in the Band of Angels Screening Committee.  Our task is to winnow six potential deals for start-up funding down to three which will be presented at the monthly [...]