Topic > Case Study: Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple

Apple products are now an indispensable part of people's lives. Although other competitors have a longer history and exceptional performance, such as General Electronic Corporation (GEC) and Sony Corporation, Apple's constant innovation makes it a pioneer in the business market. From the case of “Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple”, there are some significant factors that have caused Apple's success over the past 40 years. One of the vital factors is the leader. Steven Jobs, known for his strict and "dictatorial" characteristics, created Apple and endowed it with its initial value: simplicity and competence. And these are the methods implemented by Apple in the following years. “‘That simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’…the truly exceptional person will go on and find…the key, the underlying principle of the problem (Thomke, S. & Feinberg B., 2012).” A great leader should have his clear norms and disciplines, Apple used NeXT, its previous computer workstation in 1985 aimed at the education market, "as the basis of its subsequent computer operating system OS the development platform used by Sir Timothy Berners-Lee to create the client for the World Wide Web (Thomke, S. & Feinberg B., 2012)”. It also allows Windows users to access Apple products, such as Mac computers with Mac OS and Windows OS, which attract more potential customers. Last but not least, Apple's continuous experiments generate perfect products and services. Apple decided to go into retail business in 2001. At first on its website web there were only a few applications. After passing the traditional music industry to the online retail store and starting the Apple Store, Apple spent nearly 10 years building and improving its online retail store. Now more than billions of people are enjoying it