The iphone's vertical closure and horizontal opening

Xu Meng is the success of Apple in mobile phones and tablets, as in the case of Ford's T-car or Toyota's lean production model, which can bring about epoch-making effects? Earlier, the 21st Century Business Review editor Wu Bofan in its "semi-finished product era" of the survival logic of the article, the smart phone industry has truly achieved large-scale customization. He argues that "mass customization" is never possible and so easy in the smartphone industry because the industry has achieved an unprecedented division of labor.　　The Division of labor in the industrial age is carried out only in the internal process of the Enterprise, and the Division of labor in the industrial era is in the product value chain. Intelligent terminal manufacturers are engaged in the design and manufacture of large-scale manufacturing computing platforms (they can also produce a small number of applications)--manufacturing "semi-finished products" on a large scale, and let countless developers production functions and experience a variety of applications, and then by the user according to their own needs to select the product "the other half" to become a "finished product" (　　It's just a new application of this smart terminal. Products that are based on numbers rather than atoms as raw materials have gained unprecedented freedom in mass customization. First-tier vendors (providing basic equipment) sell to customers in essence "computational power" (along with a few simple applications), and the capabilities and experiences of computing power can vary.　　Software developers provide the ability to materialize computing power into applications of various functions and experiences. But some argue that such a judgment is debatable. Hans-paul Bürkner, global president and CEO of BCG, Paul Bockner that smartphones, such as Apple Inc., the iphone, the App Store, is a "mobile" Provides about 350,000 kinds of applications for users to choose from, which is like people go to the department store shopping, stores have a variety of goods, but everyone buys something is different, this is true to achieve the user's own personalized needs. But this is not the same as mass customization. Everyone picks and installs the apps they want, but they don't see it, and they don't necessarily have an interest in what you're using. In other words, this personalization does not distinguish between you and others, this personalization only has meaning to itself, and the outside world is unable to distinguish. "The Apple system is in fact a closed, highly integrated system, and its App store is like moving the traditional department store offline to the line, creating a new app retail model, but it's not open," he said. Apple controls exactly which players have access to its system and what doesn't. By contrast, Google (Google Inc.,nasdaq:goog) 's Android System (Android) offers a more egalitarian, open platform that anyone can access. "In Bürkner's view, the changes that have taken place in the automotive industry over the past twenty or thirty years have been more consistent with the traditional definition of mass customization (MasS customerization). The so-called large-scale customization, that is, large-scale production of prefabricated modules, so that users according to their own needs and use of the scene to assemble the module as a personalized color of the finished product. For example, when Henry Ford first developed T-model cars, the colors were only black and looked alike. This is typical of mass production (Mass Production). But not long after, based on the people's differentiated demand, some companies in the automotive industry began to adopt platform mode of production, providing prefabricated modules, in the shape, interior and dashboard and other aspects of the consumer to provide more choices.　　People can also make a personalized conversion of the car, such as engine, body color, etc. to meet their different needs. and Wu Bofan that the auto industry's attempt was only partially achieved by "mass customization." Mass manufacturing to provide customers with personalized products, the industrial era is the dream of the vast majority of enterprises. However, personalization, non-standard will inevitably lead to small batches, small quantities must be sacrificed by large-scale cost advantages.　　Product personalized competitiveness and product price competitiveness with fire and fire, difficult to reconcile. He sees Nokia's previous thinking as a product of the industrial age. Nokia mobile phones have long been "finished" the form of appearance, the user got the basic function has been relatively fixed, not too much personalized transformation of space. This makes its appeal to consumers greatly reduced.　　Therefore, compared to the iphone and other smartphones for consumer recycling products and personalized demand for satisfaction, Nokia (Nokia Corporation, Nyse:nok) as a mobile phone manufacturers to the Internet mobile device manufacturers of the transformation of the road appears to be difficult, congenitally deficient.　　Bürkner to discuss Apple's highly successful business model in recent years, understanding Apple's App Store model and Apple's openness. Christoph Nettesheim, managing director and senior partner of BCG Greater China, compared Apple mode with Wikipedia's open model, that the two have a certain similarity, are very good at using the network effect (receptacle multiplying), to maximize the use of attracting users , but the two are fundamentally different. "Wikipedia, whose model is to create content spontaneously by the user, ultimately, the user and the user benefit from each other; and Apple, frankly, I think it's basically a purely commercial retail channel, and it's like a real-time global, digital department store that allows application developers anywhere in the world to instantly sell their apps to the world. The Wikipedia model is for users to users (users for users), while Apple is an application developer to the user (creator players for users). The former is a user sharing information platform, the latter is a commercial sales platform, the two models are very different. "Of course, both open and closed have theirDisadvantages。 Apple's closeness allows it to have high margins that others cannot match, and its rigorous scrutiny of applications can prevent rogue software, user information theft and piracy. Because of this closeness, the vertical integration of the industry chain has made Apple one of the most successful companies in the world. But it must be seen that the shift from closure to openness is the market trend.　　Don't forget Apple's other history: Apple's personal computer industry, which uses a closed operating system, has seen its market share fall and fall, gradually marginalized. For Google, the free, open Android platform is attracting a large number of mobile phone device manufacturers and application developers to follow, according to US market research firm Gartner, Android operating system in the smartphone market will soon reach 50%. On the one hand, openness inevitably leads to the emergence of rogue, viral software, and, more importantly, free policies that make it impossible for Google to profit from the business.　　Once the charges are due to be hotly debated, it will be a big challenge for Google to face in the future. Apple, which has created a 500% growth miracle in recent years, is still sitting on the top of the tech industry's market capitalisation, Apple surpassed Google to become the world's most valuable brand in the latest BrandZ of the world's most valuable brands, announced by Millward Brown, the market research firm, in May this year. To summarize the success of its business model, there are three points: the first is its highly integrated system; second, Apple's App Store model has enabled many Third-party developers to reach tens of thousands of users around the world in real time, a model that has been successful, So many small developers have only a few employees developed into a very rich company; third, Apple is really good at product design and quality, user interface and user experience. Therefore, the integration of the system, the concept of new retail, quality and detail of the high concern, the three superimposed, creating the success of Apple.