How does Jobs make iPod, iPhone and iPad? Why can Microsoft return to the peak of trillion market value?
Editor’s note: This article comes from the WeChat public account “Product One Two Three” (ID: spm0123) author: queer Tianxiang.
About how to ask questions, McKinsey has an analysis tool called SCQA analysis (Situation-Complication-Question-Answer Analysis), which is simply
Background-contradiction / conflict-definition problem-analysis problem
Sounds like an old saying, is there anything special about this method? For example
You are going to party with friends on the weekend (background), when you go out and find that the weather is not right, it seems that it is going to rain (contradiction / conflict), you want to “Do you need to bring an umbrella out” (definition problem) To make decisions based on the situation “with” or “without” (analyze the problem)
This is a scene we are accustomed to, but what we may not have thought about is “whether we should bring an umbrella” Is this a correct question?
What is the essential purpose of carrying an umbrella?
To avoid getting wet when going out
What are the ways to avoid getting wet when going out?
Bring a disposable raincoat
After arriving at the destination, buy an umbrella in the nearest supermarket
Change the meeting place to a place that can be seamlessly connected to the subway
…..
We can find that at the moment when we think of “whether we should take an umbrella out” in our minds, the solution strategy has been limited to “umbrella”, and the range of options is also limited to “should we take an umbrella out” You can only choose yes or no. In other words, no other solution strategies were discussed at all.
But according to the actual situation, the corresponding choices will inevitably be different. For example, if it is extreme typhoon weather? That might not be the best option.
This example tells us that the so-called right question is to let us ask essential questions first, rather than inertial mistakes, and put common solutions as problems.
Let’s look at the examples of Apple and Microsoft.
In the 1970s, Apple opened the era of personal computers. In 1985, Jobs was “catch” out of Apple. In 1997, NeXTComputer, founded by Jobs, was killed by Apple.The company acquired and returned to Apple as chairman again. When Jobs returned to Apple again, this time the PC market was already dominated by Wintel, and Apple’s market share was already pitiful.
But Jobs did n’t struggle with it
How to make a personal computer more attractive than Wintel?
According to the description of “Jobs”
In 2001, Jobs announced a new major strategy, which will not only change Apple, but also affect the entire technology industry. The personal computer will not become a marginal secondary product, but will become a “digital hub”, integrating various digital devices, including music players, video recorders, and cameras. You can connect and synchronize all these devices with a computer. It can also manage your music, pictures, videos, information, and everything that Jobs called “digital lifestyle”. Apple will no longer be just a computer company, at least in the next decade, become the center of a variety of trendy digital products, including iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Yes, Jobs asked an essential question
What exactly do users need to use personal computers for in the 21st century?
This question leads to the answer of “Digital Hub”
Let ’s take a look at the example of Microsoft. In the era of Wintel dominance, Microsoft was the most valuable company in the world for a long time, but since Steve Jobs returned to Apple, in the Ballmer era, Microsoft wanted As sexy as Apple, so Apple launched the iPod, Microsoft has Zune; Apple has the iPad, Microsoft launched the Sruface tablet; and every iOS device will have a Windows Phone counterpart, but basically failed.
Microsoft gradually became mediocre. In 2014, Satya Nadella succeeded Ballmer as Microsoft CEO. Nadella ’s autobiography “Refresh: Rediscovering Business and the Future” recorded his thinking about Microsoft’s transformation: < / p>
As a company, what is the unique perception we have? For Microsoft, its soul is to empower the public, not just individuals, and organizations that people build, such as schools, hospitals, enterprises, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Microsoft needs to regain its soul spirit, and this soul is to enable everyone and every organization to obtain powerful technology, that is, the universalization of technology.
I encourage Microsoft to switch to “mobile first, cloud first”. Not personal computers first, or even mobile phones first. We want to imagine a world where human experience flows across devices. In such a world, cloud makes this kind of mobility possible and generates a new generation of intelligent experience. Our transformation in various business areas will help Microsoft and our customers thrive in the new worlddevelopment of.
Yes, Nadella did not struggle with the successful product forms already on the market to ask
How do we make phones or tablets that are more attractive than competitors?
Instead, I first asked the essential questions of a company:
As a company, what is the unique perception we have?
The answer to this question is:
Let everyone and every organization get powerful technology, that is, the universalization of technology.
How to realize the popularization of technology for Microsoft at that time, the best answer is:
Mobile first, cloud first
As everyone knows the story later, in the last week of December 2018, Microsoft successfully surpassed Apple and became the world’s most valuable company.
Another example I have personally experienced, about mobile phone insurance.
All mobile phone manufacturers except Apple only provide insurance products for mobile phone accidents, broken screens, and extended warranty because the questions they raise are:
How to reduce the maintenance cost of the user after the phone is damaged?
Obviously the best answer to this question is in the form of insurance, so there are official insurance products such as broken screen insurance and extended insurance.
What is Apple ’s problem?
How to let users have a better user experience when using iphone?
Based on this problem, Apple introduced applecare +. Taking mobile phone applecare + as an example, its services include:
What is the cleverness of such a product? Last year, we surveyed tens of thousands of users about value-added services during the use of mobile phones.
The first four issues of the users most concerned by the survey are as follows: