As time goes by, Apple's business continues to show the future on its rear-view speculum. Take the example of your decades of focus on building user trust.
The human interface
User experience continues to be essential at Apple. Yes, it's all about bugs - the butterfly keyboard, on-device content monitoring, Siri monitoring / rating, and the years the company lost its focus on the Mac have lengthened relationships with the service's customers.
Your next resolution to forsake the majority of that direction shows how much the company learns from your failures. Apple understands that good service customer experiences promote strong relationships with service customers and also fuel future business. And that could well position the company for any foray into virtual reality in the months and years to come.
A recent PwC survey exploring the nature of trust cites multiple pillars of this virtual currency: data protection, moral business practices, treating employees well and admitting fault are considered the most essential for users, employees and business leaders. Beyond stated commitments, it is also essential to take steps to address income inequality, authenticity, and strike a balance between benefit and purpose.
Apple meets many of these requirements, but it does not accept faults as well as it should and is not known for being transparent. Still in this way, the emphasis on building relationships of trust has been central since the second coming of Steve Jobs. It's a core value that Jobs' successor as CEO, Tim Cook, has protected.
Why bet on trust?
Cook once explained: “Technology is only going to work if people trust it. "
He was referring to the need to protect user privacy, but that applies practically anywhere else.
As we emerge from the pandemic in a world characterized by climatic emergencies and endemic inequalities, it is obvious that trust is going to be one of the pillars on which restoration will be built. If trust is a currency, it is a currency that Apple trusts as much as it needs in every relationship with the user, from the smallest store to the largest € XNUMX trillion brand (intermittently Apple).
This applies to each and every business. Take the post: Looking ahead to XNUMX, Lauren Palmer, IDG's Senior Executive Officer and Chief User Officer, highlights the importance of trust relationships between publishers and advertisers. and hearings.
Relationships matter. And Apple's work on relationship building was to be a lesson for any business in any field, including technology. The values that engender such trust cannot simply be anchored in an existing business; they have to be cooked by design.
Think Apple Retail
I still remember the moment we learned about Apple's plan to launch retail stores. Critics, media and analysts have said that these plans will fail. But they have not failed.
For what reason?
Because Apple has focused its retail efforts on building confidence instead of increasing sales. During a store visit, store staff took the time to figure out what you needed, rather than sell you incentive products. The company may even have a separate "surprise and delight" policy to enhance in-store experiences.
Tim Kobe of Eight Design assisted in designing Apple's first retail stores. Writing in two thousand and nineteen, he explained how Apple approached the task:
"Apple's job helped develop is to make the store a branding tool that could convey aspects of the brand that were previously left to a communication feature. You can feel what the brand is about. The Apple brand through the experience that you have in the space Now little by little more companies see their stores as points of contact with the brand, more than just a space for transactions”, he stated.
Kobe is right.
Most retailers now talk about omnichannel marketing. Apple has been doing it from the beginning. It also means that Apple's retail stores are among the most profitable in the world.
This kind of relationship building is what builds the connection with the user.
Customer experience design
This drive to build relationships is built into every step of the Apple user journey, from operating system to packaging. Every interaction is essential. Apple discovered this long before many business leaders began to ponder it. Consider why tens and tens of thousands and thousands of Apple product enthusiasts watch unboxing videos - that's part of the journey, too.
This forest of positive interactions is why other large tech companies entering the retail space have failed to match Apple's success. They still find that providing reliable experiences requires more than simply pushing a tree, certain pine tables, and a parade of attractive vendors in an inflated retail unit.
To be successful, they need to focus deeply on designing a genuine user experience.
So what happens to Apple in the metaverse?
Now, I don't think Apple has a monopoly on trust (although its consistent user satisfaction scores and current cost of doing so suggest so).
But this sermon is truly about how any company in any field should take a deep look at what the iPhone maker does to understand where they can prosper their business.
After all, in the rapidly changing business environment of 'interesting times' that we all share on this planet today, it makes a lot of sense to focus on creating those sensible knots of trust that are going to help your business stay resilient. and sustainable in a doubtful future. .
It's also a one-of-a-kind weapon that Apple can and almost certainly will deploy when it enters the War of the (Virtual) Worlds later this year. After all, if you can trust the business of this world, who will you trust in the Metaverse? A company that assaults your personal data or seeks to protect it?
As I stated, trust is a currency. For Apple's business, it's money in the bank. It was developed that way.
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