The MacBook Air is so beautiful, it matches with our office design and settings. but not sure how well it fits ours or other enterprise needs. First, the battery is not replaceable (not us) and a not so impressive battery life especially we’re on a plane all the time. Second no Ethernet. Third, no ram upgrade. Why did I buy it?
It is beautiful. It is elegant. It’s also sturdy. it's a piece of art. It’s great user experience. It reflects who I am. It’s all a part of their personal brand.
This is Apple’s beach head strategy into the enterprise. It is aimed not aimed at power Mac users or designers or film producers. They will stick to the MacPro. It is quietly targeted at heads of enterprise (the fast companies of the world). Traditionally, these customers have been Windows users. This ultralight air will motivate their adoption and in turn signal the acceptance of Apple in the enterprise market since the IT folks who set the standard will now need to support Apple in the enterprise. If the CEO of a Fortune 500 company is using a Macbook Air, sure the It folks will be supporting it. Look out for a more practical MacBook for business..may be 12 months. Shall we call it MacBook Lisa?
The big question is: Sounds like everybody knows the secret to Apple's success, why don't people copy it? Or at least ask the top guys to wear black turtle nech, jeans and New Balance? I imagined other companies like Sony, Compaq, LG and Dell and even IBM executives publicly professing admiration for Apple's great products, while secretly laughing at the foolishness of many of their moves. They think they are smart by just cherry-pick any interesting new ideas from Apple, incorporate them in their own products, then crush Apple through better distribution and low cost. This is a strategy that works only in paper. The competitors don't want to respond.
They think Apple can't keep pulling rabbits out of its hat forever; that someday it will fall flat on its face(Newton and Lisa). Apple did not win on products, thy win becasue they go back to their core as an innovatin company, not a computer company (they dropped the word "computer" two years ago) and provoke the market with game-changing paradigm-shattering new products/experiences. While everyone is risk averse whiel Apple is proving over and over and over again that innovation and embracing risk is the key to success? Apple is all about exploring adjacent sector innovation (see my post yesterday) and so happen all they need is one Provocateur named Steve. Adjacent sector innovation is the most convenient white space. Other just don't get it. If you need an external Prrovocateur, call us. We'll bring our MacBook Air.
