I'll put my hands up now, I'm an Apple fanboy. Not the fruit, but the company.
The ceo of Apple spent a little under two hours whipping the apple fanboys into hysteria. Famous for challenging the market place, and fiercely innovative, Apple had alot to live up to.
When Steve Jobs introduced the MacBookAir, not only was it a massive step forward in laptop design, it was also something that hadn't been seen before. A laptop, with no CD or DVD drive. How would the masses react?
Innovation sometimes comes at a price of course.
The timing couldn't have been worse, two days later the stock-market plunged, taking apple shares down from their high of $200 to just over $130.
Like all innovative products, they take a bit of time to catch on. The first iPods sold miniscule amounts, as did the first iMacs, but Apple have been here before. During the last tech slump, they simply increased spend in R & D and training, and they innovated their way out of the tech downturn.
The result, a company with no debts, and $18 billion in cash in the bank. Not too bad for a company that was 3 months away from bankruptcy 12 years ago.
Apple invested in the development of their workforce, and they'll do the same this time no doubt. Why? It produces astounding results, innovation in the marketplace, and increases loyalty to the company, and therefore discretionary effort. Apple, have one of the lowest staff turnover rates in the tech market. They also have the highest loyalty amongst employees.
They invest heavily in their organisation, with the focus on T&D, and R&D. The two are linked, increase the capability of your workforce, and you increase the capacity for innovation.
The second thing that dawned on me as I watched Steve Jobs deliver his keynote, is what an amazing presenter he is. Admittedly he's playing to a captive audience, but he owns that stage.
Now all I have to do is find a crowd of a few thousand folks to practice on. Any offers?
