Apple Really is Smarter Than You

Face it. You really aren't as smart as Apple. You quite possibly are as smart as any given individual at Apple, even Tim Cook or Jony Ive. But, you're not as smart as the whole Apple team is.

They have many times more collective experience than you can possibly have. They have a deep history of successful execution. They have a deep history of failure. They have more data inputs and more data analysis capabilities. They come from a culture specifically designed to be smart and to sustain intelligence.

They live in a learning culture, where the expectation is to always be moving forward. They add new talent. They acquire companies to add intellectual property and power. They file patents and experiment on product developments that never get built. They kill products, even successful ones.

They also know who they are and what Apple is. As a result, they do what they do, not what someone else does or expects them to do. Although they are rarely ever on the bleeding edge of technology leadership, they're not really followers either.

They make geeky tech stuff sexy, appealing, and fashionable. They make engineering innovations look incremental and mundane, almost as if anybody could do it. A new product announcement comes along for something that no one has ever seen or is the best anyone has ever seen and it's received as just another day at the office. Almost any company in the world would be happy with just one Apple-style hit product.

You think they should offer more options, add more features, make a bigger phone, make a smaller tablet, tack on a keyboard, support Flash, increase the megapixels, include expansion ports, blah blah blah. You think the price is too high. You think the system is too closed. You think gold is silly or the colors are yucky.

It really is time to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask yourself who has the track record here. For roughly the last 16 years, Apple has been unrivaled in designing and building great products, delivering excellent profits, and creating shareholder value. You may hate Apple or its products. You may prefer other consumer electronics or investments in other companies. Fine.

If you really think you're smarter and know better about what to do or how to do it, then get out there and get to work. We'd all love to see it. We're waiting...