Is Apple's Fashion Crown Slipping?

Apple, the first public company to be worth $1 trillion, has come a long way since college dropouts Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded it in 1976 with a vision to make computers more accessible and small enough to have in homes and offices.

Clearly business visionaries the pair set about changing the way people viewed the humble computer and then mobile technology by focusing on the design element of the products rather than merely their functionality. They understood that to drive consumer want and build a differentiated brand, they had to attribute desirability to products in a category (tech) that had previously competed on functionality alone, for them this was achieved by largely focusing on design.

Their focus on developing stylish and identifiable products which drove consumer want based on aesthetics and personal style aspirations took design thinking and design innovation to new levels. They even went as far as to drop the word computer from their marketing and branding back in 2007 as they focused on building their design-led brand...the term computer having never really been synonymous with style!

Whilst Apple is undoubtedly one of the most successful technology companies ever, to my mind, it can also teach many in the fashion industry a thing or two—fashion revolves around predicting what people want and designing and stocking these products before consumers even realize they want them.

Apple has remained at the forefront in terms of technology trends but, as someone who can remember a time before tech became trendy, their real strength is that their product design is fashion-forward and aspirational appealing to different customer segments with differentiated technology products which allow for personalization to reflect consumers' aesthetic affiliations.

                                                                   Robes de bal