Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

162 BRAND RELEVANCE
challenge the Kindle for e - book supremacy. Except for a camera
it is similar to a giant iPhone, with much of the touch - screen
controls familiar to iPhone users and access to all the iPhone
applications. There is speculation that the iPad will replace not
only notebooks but also some portable computers not used for
extensive word processing or data handling.
Another side note. A host of touch - screen tablet computers
preceded the iPad. In the 2000 Comdex event, the leading
electronics trade show, Microsoft ’ s Bill Gates unveiled a Tablet
PC, a computer without a keyboard. It never caught on, in
part because the technology was not ready and in part because
it lacked any hint of coolness. Panasonic and Toshiba have been
making such tablet computers in relative anonymity for years for
primarily business users. In spite of the early market presence of
competitors, Apple again took over an exemplar role, this time
for tablet computers.
A remarkable story — arguably fi ve new subcategories within
ten years by the same fi rm and same CEO — the iMac, the iPod,
iTunes, the iPhone, and the iPad. And that doesn ’ t count Jobs ’ s
Pixar, the remarkably successful animated fi lm studio that was
sold to Disney in 2006. Several takeaways. First, in each case
the fi nal product evolved over time, the fi nal vision was not
in place at the outset. Each involved building on innovations
that existed in prior products. No product started from scratch,
and none stood still. Second, the customer ’ s unmet need was
rather obvious; the challenge was largely technology, which was
resolved by exploiting a combination of outside and inside products
and talent. Third, strong barriers succeeded at keeping competitors
at bay for an extended time period. One barrier was the
creation of an ecosystem including an Apple operating system,
iTunes, and the App Store where applications can be obtained.
Others, including the Apple brand, a committed customer base,
and ongoing product energy and news, added up over time to
make Apple a moving target.