From the very early days Apple generated a reputation for innovation. Whether it was Steve Wozniak’s brilliant engineering or Jonathan Ive’s timeless designs, Apple is blatantly copied more than any other gadget company.
Apple may not have invented every standard product design in computers, but the company has a knack for winnowing away the cruft and manufacturing products that seem to capture the public’s imagination and demand to be copied by the competition.
Remember the original Apple II? Apple popularized slots for add-on devices and color displays, both copied by IBM and PC clone makers.
Remember DOS? Microsoft’s originally purchased operating system paled in comparison to the original Mac OS. It took Bill Gates’ company years to pull it off, but copy they did.
Apple often seems to be the research and development arm of competing gadget makers.
Remember the first Mac Powerbook models from the early 1990s? It didn’t take long for Apple’s reference design to inspire the engineering photo copiers of every PC maker.
Apple didn’t invent the portable media device, but their eclectic design won the hearts of a few hundred million customers like no other.
What did smart phones look like before the iPhone? Even Google’s Android device designs mimicked Palm and Treo and BlackBerry devices before the iPhone came along.
Samsung has been blatant about copying Apple’s iconic iPhone and iPad designs, hence the lawsuits. Clearly, Samsung’s executives decided it was better to copy than be original. And copy they did; everything from look and feel to app icons. Blatantly and shamelessly.
Apple avoided the crazy world of netbooks and, instead, churned out the MacBook Air model at an affordable price. That became the reference design and inspiration for Intel’s new fangled ultra books; most of which look like a MacBook Air.
To be fair, Apple does a bit of copying, too. After all, everything is a remix, right?
Why is it that Apple’s product designs are shamelessly copied by major competitors?
An answer is more complicated than this, but, in a word, it’s taste. Apple, as a company, and especially under Steve Jobs’ rule, defined tasteful, elegant, usable products in a way no other technology company has.
It isn’t just hardware design, either. It’s the whole widget. Hardware. Software. Marketing. Apple has an inherent knack for developing just what the doctor ordered. No more. No less. And sufficient to capture the heart and soul of a growing customer base.
While copying Apple isn’t a new phenomenon, it has grown to crazy proportions in recent years (hence, the lawsuits). Why? Apple’s engineers, designers, and executives toiled in near obscurity until the iPod. That single, seminal product unleashed a wave of innovation and ecosystem that competitors still have yet to catch up to.
From the iPod and iTunes came the iTunes Store. Then Windows versions. Then movies and TV shows. Then the iPhone and iPod touch, the App Store, and the iPad.
While competitors struggle to copy Apple’s best, and carve a niche for their own knockoffs, they fail to copy the very best about Apple. The company’s focus, is, and hopefully, will always be– on the product and the user experience.
The end result of Apple’s innovative product designs and integrated ecosystem begets high product margins and obscene profits, none of which have been copied by any competitor.
Why do competitors copy Apple? Because they can. And they need to.
tcarlson says
So true, especially when it comes to personal computers and devices. Not so much in the world of IT, though. When it comes to servers, GNU/Linux rules. Even Apple uses them.
Viswakarma says
Apple leads and everybody else copies!!!
Don says
Gotta disagree. If taste were important, would Jersey Shore really be on TV? It’s really rather simple:
Those who can innovate, create.
Those who can’t create, copy.
Those who can’t copy, steal.
It’s cheaper to copy than create. It’s cheaper to steal than copy. So it’s not taste. It’s saving money by avoiding R&D costs and being “just like” the real deal and saving advertising costs.
~ Kate’s Note: Taste is important. That’s what creators have. It’s what copiers copy. It’s what others steal. As to Jersey Shore, who’s copying that?
Stacy Kim says
For as long as I remember it’s been company after company copying Apple’s designs. That’s what Apple does best. Design. Other companies only need to do what Apple does and fire their whole Research and Development divisions.
SteveW says
Remember Bondi Blue?
That was years before the iPod!
~ Kate’s Note: Yeah, three years. Other makers had no trouble copying Apple’s candy colored cases.
Peter says
While I agree with the over-all sentiment of the article, I have to take exception with some examples.
CP/M machines had slots as well, and that was who Apple was competing against at the time. If you’re saying Apple invented the concept of being able to plug a circuit board into your computer, you’re really pushing it.
Apple was behind in design when it came to laptops in the 1980s and the PowerBook pretty much put Apple up to where everyone else was. Of course, Apple fans went wild when the VP of Portable Computing pulled the first PowerBook out of the paper tray of a LaserWriter at WWDC 1991–I was there–but consider that they were comparing this to the Macintosh Portable.
In fact, there was a company who’s name escapes me that would put a Mac Plus motherboard into a laptop case about a year or two before Apple released the PowerBook. I also remember Data General having some inspirational designs in the mid-80s.
~ Kate’s Note: What laptops were popular in the 1980s? Compaq? Apple’s original portable? Both were anything but laptops. Apple popularized the laptop as we know it with the first Powerbooks in the early 1990s. All previous portables were more like luggage.
Peter says
How about the ZDS Minisport from 1989? The Compaq LTE from 1989? NEC Ultralite from 1988? Heck, you even had the DG/One from 1984 (A friend of mine worked for Data General around that time)!
Also keep in mind that Sony designed and manufactured the PowerBook 100, a slimmer version of the Apple’s designed PowerBook 140 and 170.
As an aside, I actually found the Outbound Laptop which required you to yank the Mac ROMs out of a Mac Plus from 1989. I remember seriously debating sacrificing one of our Mac Pluses for one of these…
~ Kate’s Note: I’m sorry, but I laughed out loud. ZDS Minisport? Compaq LTE? Both paled in significance to the Powerbooks in every respect. They were huge and clunky. There was a time when Apple’s Powerbooks were the marketshare leaders among laptops (even back then they were more like notebooks). Give it up already.
jackson brown says
Still, Apple popularized system bus slots for the PC masses. CP/M machines were never very popular among the masses (the last being the Osborne, but that didn’t last and didn’t have user accessible slots).
Garage hacks certainly don’t count against the argument. How popular was that Mac Plus motherboard in a laptop case? Wait! What laptop? There were no laptops in the age of Mac Plus. Remember the Compaq luggable?
Spot on, Kate. As always.
Casey Luck says
There’s just no question that Apple set the standard for laptops with the original Powerbook line. Those were great. Even the Model 100 was top notch. Every manufacturer copied those designs, just like they’re copying the MacBook Air and calling it an ultrabook.
Can we just settle this and say that Apple is a trendsetter and everyone else follows the trends that Apple sets?