• Apple Store Operational Economics. Interesting analysis by Horace Dediu (asymco.com) on Apple Store operation from a jobs-to-be-done perspective. What other retailers spend on sales commisions, Apple spreads on salary over a far larger headcount staff. But “visitors at an Apple store are made to feel they’re getting a service rather than being sold a product. (…) And that’s the key to there being very many visitors. And, incidentally, they happen to buy more things. And also incidentally they come to value the brand more.”

• Mat Honan’s Epic Hacking. Still using the same password for different online services? Must read if you care about your online security.

• Netflix’s lost year-the inside story of the price hike train wreck. A good recount of how Netflix tried to split its DVD rental and streaming services, and failed.

If your product features have been copied by your competitors, the road to long-lasting differentiation is to integrate around the experience.

It is rare the company that has proven itself capable of sustaining differentiation for significant periods (…). In those rare cases where competitors seem unable to copy a successful company, the barrier rarely is the product –that is the easiest to copy. Rather, if you want to put your finger on the precise spot in an organization where enduring differentiation can be built, it would be in the way the company has integrated in order to provide the experiences requires to do the job. This is what seems hard for competitors to copy.

Integrating around the Job to Be Done. HBR module note, August 11, 2010. Clayton M. Christensen

En 1985, Steve Jobs dejó Apple después de que el directorio de la empresa que fundó le quitara el respaldo. En 1997, doce años después, Jobs vuelve a Apple y da un quiebre de timón que encamina Apple hacia lo que la empresa es ahora.

Ese mismo año, Jobs dio la conferencia final en WWDC, el evento más importante del año para los que desarrollan software para Apple. Contestando informalmente a las preguntas de los asistentes, Jobs fue desarrollando su visión de lo que será Apple en los próximos años.

El video es largo –más de una hora– pero tiene puntos geniales. Por ejemplo, a los 5 minutos, comenta que en los últimos años Apple se ha dispersado tratando de desarrollar un montón de tecnologías que si bien tenían gran potencial individualmente, vistas en conjunto no hacían sentido. Y puntualiza: enfocarse es decir que no. Para desarrollar un gran producto, hay que decir que no a otras posibilidades interesantes pero que no hacen sentido.

Focusing is about saying no. And you got to say no, no, no (…) and the result of that focus is going to be some great products, where the sum is greater than the parts.

(Encontré el video leyendo este artículo en BGR sobre otro tema.)