What made Apple so successful in their early days

[Drama Lama]

I wonder what made People buy Apple Computers during the early days of the company.

Was it the visual appeal of the products?

 

Was it ease of use compared to other home computers?

 

Or was it the overall experience ( you buy your computer it’s already assembled you turn it on and you find it very easy using it) ?

 

I‘m curious about answers 

 

( if this is posted in the wrong subforum please move it )

[5x5]

Much more stable OS, better design, usually better support when issues arise, more functionality and easier to work with overall. Basically everything that apple is not currently

[Korben]

There are books about this. I guess most of them will say: Steve Jobs

[Kilrah]

How early? Their "early" computers weren't already assembled...

[it_dont_work]

Low price and promising to deliver more units than existed, then somehow pulling through on the manufacturing side. Or is that not the early days you're talking about? 

[Arika]

Apple wasn't successful in the early days, early personal computers were not successful. they sure are now, but they were on the brink of bankrupcy in 1997 and Bill Gates bailed them out.

[Chris Pratt]

Well, technically, Apple wasn't successful in its "early days". They had a period of being okay, before Steve Jobs was forced out, and then they went straight into the toilet. It wasn't until Steve Jobs triumphant return after his stint at running NeXT computers, that Apple started to take off.

 

Then, it was a confluence of things. Jobs brought the OS from NeXT with him, and that became Mac OS X, the first Apple OS worth a damn. The candy Macs captured the attention nascent layperson market. The iPod served to introduce people to the Apple ecosystem, and was a driver of computer sales, and of course, Steve Jobs himself, stewarded the company with his almost draconian commitment to usability and quality.

[Chris Pratt]

4 minutes ago, it_dont_work said:

Low price and promising to deliver more units than existed, then somehow pulling through on the manufacturing side. Or is that not the early days you're talking about? 

Apple has never really had "low prices". You pretty much always paid a cool tax.

[Korben]

Actually, I don't think computers are Apple's base of success. It began with the iPod (with Itunes) and the iPhone which really produced profit. In my perception computer became only a (kind of solid) side-business.

[KGGaming]

more expensive, don't often care about customers at some points , greed- wanting to make as much money as possible

[KGGaming]

that is why they're so popular

[Korben]

2 minutes ago, KGGaming said:

more expensive, don't often care about customers at some points , greed- wanting to make as much money as possible

That doesn't differenciate them from other companies, though...

[Drama Lama]

@5x5 @Korben @Kilrah @it_dont_work @Arika S  @Chris Pratt and @KGGaming

 

Huge thanks for all of your 

[SupaKomputa]

Apple successfully captured the niche, influential and high paying market at the beginnings like video editors, sound engineers and graphic designers because they tend to use multiple peripherals like mixers, dac, capture cards etc which in mac they are pretty much plug and play, while in windows they need drivers, and drivers usually screw up. So the bottom line mac are seen as more stable than a PC. They also made in-house applications to cater these users like Final Cut and Logic Pro that are an industry standard and exclusive to apple mac.

[KGGaming]

Just now, SupaKomputa said:

Apple successfully captured the niche, influential and high paying market at the beginnings like video editors, sound engineers and graphic designers because they tend to use multiple peripherals like mixers, dac, capture cards etc which in mac they are pretty much plug and play, while in windows they need drivers, and drivers usually screw up. So the bottom line mac are seen as more stable than a PC. They also made in-house applications to cater these users like Final Cut and Logic Pro that are an industry standard and exclusive to apple mac.

The one person who actually answer the question whilst some of us just use it to vent about the company

[Capital_D_Colon]

I'm not to experienced but I do have a couple Apple IIe's and let me tell you, they feel really nice to use. I think it was probably largely a combination of the intense care that was put into the presentation that is still widely recognised today as well as the renowned name brand (again, still seen today) that made the products standard for the time like with iPhones.

[Ertman]

24 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

Much more stable OS, better design, usually better support when issues arise, more functionality and easier to work with overall. Basically everything that apple is not currently

Well they have a pretty stable OS, better support than most companies.

 

they didn’t really have “more functionality” then their counterparts at the time, but they were easier to work with. Which is often a complaint by some PC users now. Well actually they are either too hard or too easy, whatever that means.

[porina]

20 minutes ago, Korben said:

Actually, I don't think computers are Apple's base of success. It began with the iPod (with Itunes) and the iPhone which really produced profit. In my perception computer became only a (kind of solid) side-business.

Yup, it depends on what time frame we're looking at. The Apple that most people know today was born from the iPod success, and followed up with iPhone. Macs were always in the background but largely irrelevant outside of certain niches. Before the internet era, I believe they were the standard for DTP, so that would have been a nice niche to run with. I recall at one point, Microsoft bought a bunch of shares in Apple which helped out with their finances. 

[SupaKomputa]

Just to add why people are drawn to apple products:

- The design is way ahead of it's time, just look at the first gen iMac.

- Easier to use, relatively user friendly than windows counterpart, especially linux.

- They usually the first to introduce latest tech like Firewire, USB and Mouse (yes, apple was one of the first OS popularize mouse)

[Alan G]

40 minutes ago, Korben said:

Actually, I don't think computers are Apple's base of success. It began with the iPod (with Itunes) and the iPhone which really produced profit. In my perception computer became only a (kind of solid) side-business.

I think this was the turning point.  Jobs also was very good at sensing what needed to be done from an industrial design perspective.  There was not any novel technology (look at how he borrowed from Xerox PARC) but the packaging was exquisite.  Apple maintained a closed system for which they could charge a premium price.  Even with smaller sales than the PC realm, the company's profit margins are large.

 

The big question is whether the company is now into incremental product development.

[Chris Pratt]

10 minutes ago, Alan G said:

The big question is whether the company is now into incremental product development.

I don't think that's so much of a big question, actually. They are very much incremental now. That's down to two factors:

 

1. In Apple's defense, we've reach a point with things like phones, tablets, and even PCs, where there's simply not a whole lot or room to innovate. Not that it can't be done, but it's all sort of incremental by nature. When the iPhone was still new, it was easy. Even copy and paste was an "innovation" at the time.

 

2. Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs. Cook is a supply side guy, and he's got that down to a fine science with Apple's product lines. The problem is that you can't optimize that stuff, if you're changing things all the time. The longer you can keep things mostly the same (i.e. incremental) the longer you benefit from decreased costs. Unfortunately, Apple doesn't pass this savings on, choosing to pocket it for themselves, and they'll stick with a dud long past when they should, just to not have to refab. Just look at the butterfly keyboard. That was 100% a cost benefit analysis, and the design didn't change until the RMA and warranty costs exceeded the cost of doing a refab.

[RejZoR]

1 hour ago, 5x5 said:

Much more stable OS, better design, usually better support when issues arise, more functionality and easier to work with overall. Basically everything that apple is not currently

If I judge them based on experience I have on iPhone XR and Apple Watch 5 now, I have to disagree. I've had Android phones since Eiclair (Android 2.x) up till Pie (Android 9) and while I didn't hate it, iOS is just on another level despite its own idiocies or limitations. And my god the updating is just sublime. See there is a new version in any news and bam, upon checking for it, it's there. It's just something unthinkable on any Android. Plus, I can be pretty much assured I'll be getting major updates for at least 5 years. And same goes for Apple Watch. The experience with it is nothing but superb. Really only thing that slightly bothers me is that it's not Qi charge compatible. Other than that, it's amazing experience and I haven't taken it off since it came out. And I was huge watch guy, especially with mechanical watches.

 

Before being fed up with Google and their stupid Android data mining nonsense, I could be called an Apple hater and I even said few times I'd never buy anything Apple. But Google forced me to give Apple a try and now I can see how Apple makes their "fanboys". Their devices are well built and just work well and are nice to use (again, can only speak for iPhone and watch) and most of the time critics quite unjustly piss on it (not always, but a lot of times). Maybe someone using Apple products way before this will have different experience, but it has been a really nice experience for me.

[Lord Vile]

1 hour ago, 5x5 said:

Much more stable OS, better design, usually better support when issues arise, more functionality and easier to work with overall. Basically everything that apple is not currently

Aside from people today buy them for the more stable OS, better design, better support, more functionality and them being easier to work with overall.  

[Blademaster91]

33 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

Aside from people today buy them for the more stable OS, better design, better support, more functionality and them being easier to work with overall.  

Stability of the OS isn't something Apple has an edge over Windows 10 or most Linux distros. Better design? As far as reliability and being able to get a device repaired,lol nope. Better support? Being forced to go to the store and told your machine needs a new motherboard from "water damage" even though a $1 chip broke which breaks the whole device. Or support cut for a very expensive machine, for example the mid 2013 macbook, while it would run Linux or Windows 10 just fine that isn't better support. More functionality? Again nope, the CPU overheating and throttling, soldered SSD and RAM,having little port selection or a proprietary port isn't what I would consider more functional. Ease of working with the OS is a matter of preference.

[RejZoR]

People constantly complain how hard or expensive it is to fix Apple products. But lets be honest here, who repairs ANYTHING these days? I've seen bunch of people with totally screwed up phones even back in the day when they were mostly made from plastic shell that could be torn apart using just finger nails and maybe a screwdriver. And entire replacement shells from eBay cost like 10€ (back, sides and front with display). Fast forward to "better" smartphones and repairing their screens would cost few 10€. Yet I still see people with screens smashed, CONSTANTLY. So, complaining over iPhones ridiculous prices is stupid since most people apparently wouldn't pay even 20€ for a replacement screen or back. My take on it is that I just use a silicone case on it and that's it. iPhone is the first device where I use screen protector just because selling it in a more pristine shape actually gives you more money in return where any Android sold as used is pretty much worthless. But if I'll smash it, I'll probably just buy another one. Chances of it receiving damage through screen protector and case are super slim anyway.

 

iPhone also had only 1 year of warranty and while it was an annoying thing when was buying it since most electronic devices has 2 years in my country, thinking back, I still have phones that work well even today. I mean, I still have HTC Wildfire, the first one and while it's pretty worn it still works. I also have Galaxy S2 which still works well if it wasn't for cocked up Cyanogen bootloader, bu that was my doing. The phone as such works. Then I have Xiaomi Mi5 that I gave away to my sibling as well as Huawei Ascend P7. Both years old and still work. So, thinking about that, chances of iPhone being the only phone dying on me felt really slim. It's been a year and a half and it's still fine. Given it'll have longer software support than any Android I might actually stick with it for longer than just 2 years. But my gut tells me it'll work just fine like all the other phones.