Industry Life Cycle
Paper to be presented at the DRUID Summer Conference 2007 on APPROPRIABILITY, PROXIMITY, ROUTINES AND INNOVATION
Copenhagen, CBS, Denmark, June 18 - 20, 2007
ENTERING A MATURE INDUSTRY THROUGH INNOVATION: APPLE S IPHONE STRATEGY
Joel West San José State University joel.west@sjsu.edu *Michael Mace Rubicon Consulting mike@rubiconconsulting.com
Abstract: Innovation competencies are valuable in emergent and high-growth phases of the lifetime of a product or industry segment. For mature industries, researchers have emphasized strengths in operations and execution, with the implication that innovation-oriented companies must enter early in the product lifecycle or not at all. Here we examine the decision of Apple Inc. to enter the mobile handset business. We link the iPhone entry strategy to its historic competencies and the industry context of commodization and convergence. From this we offer conclusions about openness in mobile phones and prospects for a single dominant design for convergence devices.
JEL - codes: O30, L16, L1
Entering a Mature Industry Through Innovation: Apple’s iPhone Strategy
Submitted to DRUID Summer Conference 2007 February 28, 2007 Abstract Innovation competencies are valuable in emergent and high-growth phases of the lifetime of a given product or industry segment. For mature industries, researchers have emphasized strengths in operations and execution, with the implication that innovation-oriented companies must enter early in the product lifecycle or not at all. Here we examine the decision of Apple Inc. to enter the mobile handset business. We link the iPhone entry strategy to its historic competencies and the industry context of commodization and convergence. From this we offer conclusions about openness in mobile phones and prospects for a single dominant design for convergence devices.
Few electronics-based industries have both the same scale and the ongoing rate of technological change as the mobile handset
Copenhagen, CBS, Denmark, June 18 - 20, 2007
ENTERING A MATURE INDUSTRY THROUGH INNOVATION: APPLE S IPHONE STRATEGY
Joel West San José State University joel.west@sjsu.edu *Michael Mace Rubicon Consulting mike@rubiconconsulting.com
Abstract: Innovation competencies are valuable in emergent and high-growth phases of the lifetime of a product or industry segment. For mature industries, researchers have emphasized strengths in operations and execution, with the implication that innovation-oriented companies must enter early in the product lifecycle or not at all. Here we examine the decision of Apple Inc. to enter the mobile handset business. We link the iPhone entry strategy to its historic competencies and the industry context of commodization and convergence. From this we offer conclusions about openness in mobile phones and prospects for a single dominant design for convergence devices.
JEL - codes: O30, L16, L1
Entering a Mature Industry Through Innovation: Apple’s iPhone Strategy
Submitted to DRUID Summer Conference 2007 February 28, 2007 Abstract Innovation competencies are valuable in emergent and high-growth phases of the lifetime of a given product or industry segment. For mature industries, researchers have emphasized strengths in operations and execution, with the implication that innovation-oriented companies must enter early in the product lifecycle or not at all. Here we examine the decision of Apple Inc. to enter the mobile handset business. We link the iPhone entry strategy to its historic competencies and the industry context of commodization and convergence. From this we offer conclusions about openness in mobile phones and prospects for a single dominant design for convergence devices.
Few electronics-based industries have both the same scale and the ongoing rate of technological change as the mobile handset