Mark Fidelman wrote a very spot on article recently, Why Every Company Needs To Be More Like IBM And Less Like Apple. I will not repeat it here and suggest you go to his original. However, I do want to add my own perspective that is driven by both industry observations and personal experience with both companies. Apple created one of the more memorable Super Bowl Ads in 1984. It portrays IBM as Big Brother controlling the mindless masses and Apple coming to the rescue.
Mark writes that this ad “does not represent today’s IBM – or Apple for that matter.” I would add that the roles are now completely reversed. As Mark notes, IBM is successfully fostering an open culture within its 400,000 employees and the 8 million participants in the IBM developer network. IBM is looking at new ways to better understand the conversations that are occurring within these groups and to continuously support transparency (see Lotusphere 2012 Notes: Innovation Lab Tour).
I have also heard from a trusted source that with Apple’s policy a developer who works on Apple iOS is not allowed to work on another mobile operating system unless certain conditions are met. So many companies have to maintain separate development units for such systems as Apple iOS and Andriod. Apple has consistently supported closed systems and IBM has supported open systems for quite some time.
I did work for both Apple and IBM in the 1980s as a service provider. This was the white shirt and tie IBM and the jeans and sneakers Apple. However, the IBMers, were, as they are now, very friendly, open, and seemed to lead balanced work lives. There was an openness to new ideas and a wide range of personal interests. I had less exposure to the Apple people but they seemed to work very long seven-day weeks and their job was their life. I grant this is just an impression and I could be wrong.
Now I remain a fan of many of Apple’s products. I find the employees in their stores to be very helpful and they seem to be empowered to go the extra mile for customers. As a disclosure, I am writing this on a Mac, own an iPhone and an iPod. I use iTunes all the time. I hope they do not take them away from me for writing this. IBM has also allowed me to attend Lotusphere for the past two years so I have a better understanding of what IBM is doing. Here is a summary of my notes from the 2011 Lotusphere and here is a summary of my notes from the 2012 Lotusphere.
But what will happen to Apple now with Steve Jobs gone? My advice to Apple it to reinvent itself as IBM did and develop an open culture and an open product strategy.
Mark titled his article, Why Every Company Needs To Be More Like IBM And Less Like Apple. I would add Apple to the list of companies that need to be more like IBM.
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