14 DAY TRIAL // Apple needs to rethink its strategy, according to John Sculley, the man who got Steve Jobs fired from Apple after being convinced by the visionary to try and change the world, rather than sell sugared water for the rest of his life.
Sculley is best known for getting Jobs ousted out of Apple during an internal power struggle back in the 80s.
Apple had a lot to suffer because of Sculley’s vision, but luckily Steve Jobs came back to the company in 1997, re-instated innovation and risk taking, and ultimately turned it into the most valuable company in the world.
Apple’s stock price may have lost a few points on rumors as of late, but it’s still the big kahuna in Silicon Valley.
Now Sculley is at it again, taking it upon himself to rethink Apple’s strategy. Only this time, he can't inflict any damage. The man offers his take on the cheap iPhone rumors in a recent interview with Bloomberg.
“Apple needs to adapt to a very different world. As we go from $500 smartphones to even as low, for some companies, as $100 for a smartphone, you’ve got to dramatically rethink the supply chain and how you can make these products and do it profitably,” he tells the business magazine.
“Samsung is an extraordinarily good competitor,” the former Apple CEO adds. “The differentiation between a Samsung Galaxy and an iPhone 5 is not as great as we used to see.”
Editor’s note
We wouldn’t want to cast any bad predictions but Apple doesn’t only sell phones. Nor does Samsung. However, every company keeps an eye on market share and the other on its bottom line.
Think about it. Microsoft is still king of the desktop OS, but it can’t hold a stick at Apple’s quarterly earnings anymore.
Apple’s focus has always been the end-user’s experience. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about market share. They just don’t care about it as much as the rivals do.
The Cupertino giant has its own ways. And that’s really what a trendsetter needs to be, isn’t it? Even if a cheap iPhone does come out of Apple, you can be sure it will only be cheap by Apple's own standards.