Chapter 47 Section 6 The Battle of Modes

At that time, Apple devoted a lot of energy to the Macintosh, and the Macintosh was not too revolutionary, but in the end it lost to the more open and cheap IBMPC camp.Today, Apple's approach to developing the iPhone and iPad is actually similar to the Macintosh back then.For example, Apple still pursues a unique design taste, still adheres to a closed model, and firmly controls every link of the production supply chain. It also does not allow the emergence of compatible iPhones and iPads. The operating system iOS of iPhones and iPads is also compatible with other operating systems. The system is not compatible.So why did the Macintosh lose to the IBM PC, while the iPhone and iPad won so much?

Timing is a big reason for this. When the Macintosh was first launched, the price of the high-performance CPU and large-capacity memory required by the graphical user interface was still high. The hardware configuration of the Macintosh was just enough to run the graphical user interface, which was far from the powerful performance claimed in the advertisement.This is similar to when Microsoft first launched tablet PCs. The technical points that users are most concerned about, such as computer weight, battery life, screen resolution, and touch control, have not been well resolved.On the contrary, whether it is the iPhone or the iPad, the timing Jobs chose for them to go public is just right.

In addition, although the closed mode was the reason why Macintosh lost to IBMPC that year, in the era of the Internet and mobile communications, the shortcomings of the closed mode are no longer obvious.For products such as mobile phones or tablet computers, users do not have too many compatibility requirements, and they will not choose Apple products because the operating system is not Windows.In the Internet era, the popularity of network applications has also weakened the need for mutual compatibility between applications.For Apple, the closed mode is obviously easier to play its strengths, which is conducive to Apple's own definition and maintenance of a product design and quality standards that are much higher than competitors.

Lu Jian, director of Shanda Multimedia Innovation Institute, used another metaphor to describe different product models: the open strategy represented by IBM PC is somewhat like the "Lianheng" in the Warring States Period. The overall cost; and the closed strategy represented by Macintosh is like "joint vertical", which integrates the production and supply chain vertically to provide users with complete and unique solutions.In the era of personal computers, the cost of "integrating vertically" was too high, and the Apple family could not compete with the PC camp in terms of price.But in the age of consumer electronics represented by the iPhone and iPad, the cost factor is less obvious than it used to be.At this time, many advantages of the closed mode are more easily reflected.For example, a closed system allows Apple to provide users with a seamlessly integrated end-to-end user experience on the iPhone and iPad.Even, by integrating and controlling every link in the supply chain, Apple can actually reduce production costs.

On the other hand, Apple continues to expand the successful operation mode of iTunes music store to other fields.With the launch of the iPhone and iPad, Apple's iTunes store began selling e-books.In just two or three years, by June 2011, the cumulative book sales had reached an astonishing 130 million copies! In order to attract the involvement of software developers, in July 2008, Apple pioneered the release of the iTunes App Store (App Store), which changed the traditional software sales model.Software developed by developers for iPhone and iPad can be submitted to the iTunes app store for sale.The payment paid by the user to install a piece of software is shared between Apple and the developer.This revolution in the distribution of application software has not only greatly improved the enthusiasm of small and medium-sized developers, but also promoted the iPhone and iPad business in turn.

As of June 2011, the iTunes app store already had 425,000 applications, with more than 14 billion application downloads and more than $2.5 billion in revenue for developers.In China, more and more entrepreneurial teams are investing in the software development of iPhone and iPad. There are not a few domestic startups with an annual income of tens of millions of dollars that focus on iPhone development. In 2010, Apple expanded the iTunes application store to desktops and notebooks, and Mac OS X users can also easily purchase software through the Internet. In 2011, Apple imitated Google's "cloud computing" model and launched the "Apple Cloud Computing" service called iCloud with great fanfare. Apple users can use this service to synchronize data and applications between desktop computers, mobile phones, and tablets. ——The competition between Apple's iOS system and Google's Android system is becoming increasingly fierce.

With a glass that can be touched, the iPhone, iPad and the business models they represent have become an important trend in the world.But on the other hand, Google's Android operating system, which is gaining momentum, is trying to change the pattern already defined by the iPhone and iPad. The path taken by Android is exactly the open path used by the IBM PC when it defeated the Macintosh. Of course, in Joe's eyes, Google's Android competition may not be a big deal. In June 2010, when Jobs attended the "Wall Street Journal" D8 summit, he answered the reporter's question about Android in this way:

Reporter: "Microsoft won the operating system platform war before. Now, the platform war in the mobile field is between Apple and Google." Jobs: "We never thought we were in a platform war with Microsoft...Maybe, that's why we lost...We just wanted to make the best product." Reporter: "What do you think of Google as a competitor? How do you feel? What happened?" Jobs: "Well, they just decided to compete with us. We're not in search!" Reporter: "So you woke up one morning to hear about Android?" Jobs: "Almost." Reporter: "Do you feel betrayed? How do you see your relationship with Google?"

Jobs clearly didn't buy the question, interrupting, saying, "My sex life is fine. How about yours?" Yes, in the view of the gang leader, the sky will not fall, isn't it just a replay of the PC war with Android, it's hard to say who will win and who will lose.This is an absolute boon for us end users.The infighting in the industry is not important, nor is the reincarnation of the business model. Only with more intense competition can there be more useful and fun products.