Three things Apple can learn from Dyson
The US tech company should take notes from a British innovator, writes John Gapper
This has been a bad week for Apple and a good one for Dyson. The giant US consumer technology company suffered its first decline in quarterly earnings in 13 years amid a fall in iPhone sales. Meanwhile, UK-based Dyson launched a £299 hairdryer using the electric motor technology in its hand dryers and domestic fans.
Dyson is a minnow compared with Apple, but Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive can learn lessons from Sir James Dyson on how a consumer technology company with a design focus can keep on launching premium products. The Apple Watch still has to prove itself and investors are wondering whether Mr Cook has the same inventive touch as Steve Jobs, its late co-founder.
One lesson is that it is easier to launch variations on a core technology than to keep coming up with something entirely new. Apple considered launching a television but is thought to have shelved the idea. It has a team working on a car, perhaps both electric and self-driving, but Handelsblatt reported this week that possible partnerships with Daimler or BMW have fallen through.
Dyson has kept on launching products based around a digital electric motor — its hand dryers are installed in many companies and it launched a robot vacuum cleaner last year. It has diversified widely from its original vacuum cleaner, and is now thought to be working on its own electric car.
A second lesson is, be prepared to fail. Dyson has launched a few products that did not capture the market as planned — notably a washing machine that it no longer makes, yet it has kept on going. In contrast, Apple seems hesitant to launch products that will not match up to blockbusters such as the iMac, the iPod and the iPhone.
Dyson has the advantage of being small. The personal wealth of Sir James, whose family owns the company, was estimated this week by the Sunday Times to have risen to £5bn, overtaking Sir Richard Branson’s. But Dyson’s sales last year were £1.38bn compared with Apple’s $234bn, so new products have a far lower revenue barrier to clear.
The third lesson is harder because Apple cannot learn from it: be led by a charismatic founder. Dyson relies to an extent on its version of what used to be called Mr Jobs’ “reality distortion field”. Consumers need to be persuaded that their products are worth far more than those of imitators or rivals. As well as innovative technology and sleek design, that requires a leap of faith.
Like Mr Jobs, Sir James embodies his products and is the pitch man for them, giving consumers the confidence that they are truly exceptional. Mr Jobs’ presentations of Apple’s inventions were marvellous shows, just as Sir James is an evangelical salesman in Dyson advertisements. But Mr Jobs died in 2011, and Mr Cook can never match his halo effect.