The Disruptive Apple!

First it was the innocent introduction of the mobile phone…. And everyone loved it. Suddenly you were able to speak on phone from anywhere.

The iphone came, and everyone just thought of it being a good, Apple branded mobile phone, and everyone was happy.

But slowly, over time, it started growing into more than just a mobile phone. And caused disruptions!

Think about the camera that came with the phone. First a fancy addition, for some casual and quick pictures. But still, you needed a good point-and-click for flash and better lenses. And of course, for the more serious photographers, there was always a need for a proper SLR.

Only the phone camera kept getting better. And better. And today, many of us have it as our default camera. One that replaced our earlier owned photography equipment for all practical purposes, and beyond that, allowed us to take pictures, even where we didn’t ordinarily carry cameras, necessarily!

Think about how many millions of a variety of cameras that would have been getting sold earlier, and think of how that number has come crashing down!!

When was the last time that you purchased a new traditional camera? When was the last time that you even used one that you already own??

Let’s think of other very basic stuff like say, printed maps. When I did my road trips in pre-iphone era, I would trudge out to an AA office and find myself, the series of printed maps for the various locations on my planned travels. Someone was creating these, someone was printing them, someone was getting paid for the effort. And these were being produced again, in very large numbers.

I haven’t seen the face of even one such printed map, in last several years!

The phone also kept time, and it was always with us, and some of us might have shed our traditional watches also, once we got used to carrying a phone around.

But there were others (me, included) who were accustomed to seeing time with a turn of our wrists and needed a traditional watch.

Till came along the Apple Watch! While I resisted getting one for a while, once I got sucked into getting one, and especially for the phenomenal health features in it, I have only worn that kind of watch, and pretty much not touched my Titans and Tag Heuers and my Rolex!! All the “variety” that I need on my wrist comes from changing strap types and display faces on my Apple Watch. If anything, I will upgrade to a new release of the Apple Watch from time to time. But where earlier, I would add a few traditional watches to my collection every year (bought or being gifted), that entire activity has stopped for last few years!

Again, worldwide, people still wear normal watches, and the market has not quite collapsed like that for traditional cameras. At least, not yet. But it would have definitely shrunk some, and is on way to shrink even more, as Apple Watches and similar types get more affordable and hence, commonplace.

There are many other product categories that have been badly disrupted thanks to Apple’s innovations (and where I say, Apple, I also include the other brands providing similar products and disruptions!), and many more that would get disrupted in time to come!

That’s the nature of the world we live in today. Exciting for us as consumers, but very very challenging for many traditional businesses, with the constant threat of a technology change that can completely break their category of business!!

Are you in a business that could get disrupted? Are you in denial if you’re thinking otherwise?! And if you do see a risk to your business, how are you preparing to face the challenge?!