Apple - "Insanely Great" Product Design

Apple has been doing very well in the last two years and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon (including Paritosh who baught an Apple laptop) iPod is kicking butt and is selling like crazy. I think 20 million units have been sold so far. I am not crazy about gizmos, but I can't help but notice the beauty in these products from Apple. They are very cool, easy to use and people swear by them.

I see Apple's Infiite loop campus in Cupertino, CA everyday while driving to work. Today I decided to take a drive into the campus. I don't know why. But anyway, I drove around and came to the office and started thinking about what makes Apple great. Is it Steve Jobs? It cannot be a single person, but a lot of credit should go to Steve Jobs. He is a great CEO. Most CEOs are focused on achieving their financial and operational goals, and on executing a strategy. But Jobs believes that Apple's ultimate advantage comes from its ability to make unique, or as he calls them, "insanely great" products. Hats off to him for figuring the "core competency" of his company. Love the passion in those two words - insanely great.

Here is what a former Apple employee had to say about Steve Jobs:
"I've been thinking hard about the Apple product-development process since I left," says design guru Donald Norman, co-founder the design consultants Nielsen Norman Group, who left Apple in 1997. "If you follow my guidelines, it will guarantee good design. But Steve Jobs doesn't want good design. He wants great design, and my method will never give you that. That takes a rare leader, who can bring both the cohesion and commitment and style. And Steve has it."

I guess that sums what it take to have a great product organization - cohesion, commitment and style.