iPhone Business now bigger than Microsoft

Yes that's right, Apple's iPhone business (just the iPhone, not iPods, iPads, iTunes etc), is now bigger than the whole of Microsoft apparently. This astonishing situation is the result of a great CEO with incredible clear vision of where he could take the market, combined with his deep appreciation of design.

What I have always loved about Apple is that when Jobs was there you could clearly sense that at its 'core' was a captain who truly cared about making great products, way ahead of making money.

What is so unusual about this CEO?

1. He understood the power of creating a complete experience for customers. Consequently he took an almost insanely keen and controlling interest in all the details of the brand, the products, their packaging, the advertising and of course the retail outlets (both the glass and steel Apple stores and the online ecommerce). It was semi-tyrannical, but this laser like focus on the whole shebang is what created an experience for customers that is almost irresistibly cool  to many billions of humans. 
2. Also rare for a CEO was that Jobs had a deep understanding of and commitment to industrial design. He really got the idea that great design is a process that aims to create synergy between the liberal arts (creativity, styling, human psychology and emotion) and technology (engineering, quality, materials, performance, manufacturing). Unsually he held designers in high regard, particularly when it came to Jonathan Ive - building one of the most productive relationships between a designer and a CEO that we've ever seen. He did this by giving Ive exactly the right support, input and resources that he needed to create a world beating design team and range of products.

How did it come about that one man had such a mix of stubborn will-fullness, laser like focus and vision and ability to get the best out of designers? It's a strange set of circumstances that came together throughout Job's life - clearly he came genetically pre-primed, with a bloody minded streak of courage and intense intelligence. But this came together with some pretty useful life experiences.

Jobs was clearly learned a lot from his step father who was both a nifty negotiator (when buying and selling car parts), and a strong, principled craftsman. Job clearly drew from his interest in liberal arts and formative years growing up in the technology hub of Silicon Valley. But crucially perhaps it was his lifelong adherance to buddhism which gave him the capping stone of a belief in quality, the whole, focus and simplicity.

It's a curious combination of fire and ice that has formed the foundation of the most successful consumer product company to date.

I am a strong believer in the power of the design process - In the hands of skilled designers I've seen it work time and again to create wonderful things. If you are a CEO looking for the way to create success - give Realise Product Design a call as we have the way.