Is Apple a Product Centric or a Market

Centric Company?

In my opinion, Apple is more focused on being product centric. Even

though, tech companies in general have both product and marketing
managers as it becomes a crucial part to have both as the companies
expand and become big. But I strongly believe they have product
managers and focus on them more. A simple example I could give is
the removal of home button on iPhones, nobody needed that change
to happen, but people adapted to it anyway. No one in their target
market complained or had issues with such a change. They just
simply complied. Similarly, with the introduction of their new range
of Apple watches, nobody actually had the dire need of having one,
however, it succeeded and people started using them rapidly. Thus,
they focus more on their products and innovating new things instead
of focusing on the customer needs themselves. Even though, it can
play a part but it is not the focus.

Even when Apple was introduced, their main aim was to be

innovative and do something different. This is the reason why their
tagline is “Think Different”. Another example I could give of is when
they chose to remove the headphone ports in their iPhones and
introduced AirPods to further introduce the concept of wireless
earphones and it worked incredibly well. Almost, everyone without a
complaint chose to purchase AirPods along with the purchase of an
iPhone and wireless earphones became thing. But again, nobody
asked for such a change. This can easily explain how product-centric
they are. Thus, they look for introducing new product culture, i.e.,
introducing new and innovative products.
I believe that they are about product managers more than marketing
managers. They don’t need an emphasis on marketing in my opinion
as they have created such an image that customers using it itself feels
like an endorsement and more people seek to buy it as they think it is
worthy of buying. Thus, they focus on having a product manager as
they look to develop more better and innovative products that
customers will use either way. It is not provided as a solution to the
problems faced by customers but in fact the opposite. They aim to
create the best product.