Don’t be Apple, be Sony?

Here’s the real killer when it comes to business and brand. The moment people see through you is the moment you die. Sure, some people even come back to life. But not usually. Because once the writing is on the wall, and you’re on the way, not many people can backtrack.

When you’re on the move, you’re ahead of the game. People can’t figure you out. It’s magic. There’s a reason magicians are always one step ahead. When you’re doing something new and different, no one knows what’s next. That’s drama. That’s excitement. Everyone is just enjoying the ride. But what happens when it all works out? What happens when you’re reaping the rewards?

Steve Jobs pushed paradigms. Change was in his DNA. Keynote after keynote, he always found a way to spin it just a little differently. It didn’t matter if you read The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. That was him yesterday. He was him tomorrow. He pulled a rabbit out of a hat time after time. He kept you on your toes. Even in his missteps, he kept it going, because we all knew he wouldn’t stop. Progress was his constant.

But this is not the Apple of Steve Jobs. This is the Apple of Tim Cook. Not to fault Tim. But he’s just not Steve. If you’re going to ask who is the right man to take what Apple has done and milk it for all it’s worth, he might just be that person. But at some point, the well runs dry. And I’m not just talking about Apple, here. I’m talking about us. As business owners. As people with products to sell and services to offer, how do we keep our wells from running dry?

Listen to the last keynote. You hear the language of Jobs. How breathtaking it all is. How exciting. How this is the most beautiful product they’ve ever made. You hear all that. But you don’t feel it. Because we’ve heard it before. They’re the same tricks without the newness. Or, more specifically, they’ve become tricks, where once, they were newness.

And we’d forgive all of that, if the products were there. I’m sure the iPhone 5 will sell. I need an update. And we all like better and faster, and the new iPhone is better and faster. But is it evolving? Or is it just formula now? Yes, Apple is the industry leader. Yes, they have the best of the best on several fronts. But being the best is not good enough. It’s about staying the best. Besting even yourself. It’s about creating new territory and not just standing your ground. And now, with the wizard gone, we can see behind the curtains. Before, in each product and innovation, from iTunes to the store to the iPhone to the App store to the iPad, what we saw over and over were paradigm shifts. Sometimes, so smartly done, we didn’t even realize it. Sometimes so full of potential, Jobs didn’t realize it. There was no way to get a lock on that. Talk about being ahead of the curve.

But we can all figure out bigger and better. We see what’s going on. Yeah, the new MacBook is sexy. Yeah, I bet I’ll like the new iPhone too. But more is just faster this, extra of that. Thinner instead of thicker. More speakers, more battery life, more resolution. And 5 rows instead of 4 does not make for exciting tweets. Apple is leveraging their position. They’re extending their assets. This is a company that is working hard. But is it still trying? I hope so. I hope I can swallow these words, but I feel like something has been lost. The DOW was up .72% as I wrote this. Apple was down .46%. The market sees it, too.

Now dig back into the ashes. What about Sony? Seemingly stagnant for so long, they kick it in gear with the NEX-7 last year. Then the RX-100. And now the RX-1? This is insane. A full frame sensor in a pocketable package? It might not be your cup of tea, but this I know: there are interesting things going on, and Sony is company that is really trying. A big manufacturer is finally going for it, taking some risks, and listening to an ignored segment of the market as they push the technology. Somewhere inside that company, there’s a fire that’s lit. They are playing for real.

I could scarcely have imagined these words in my head. To point to Sony. To shun Apple. And if this sounds like it’s only big business I’m talking about, make no mistake about it. This is us. As an industry. As ourselves. We have a choice to make. When it’s coming together, and you’re getting there, do you rest on your laurels? Or do you go for it?

We exist in a world that likes to go from good to premium to ultra-premium to super-ultra-premium. It’s easier to up the ante with more. Bigger albums. More pictures. Shoot more, tone more, Photoshop more, retouch more, give more away. But in a crowded industry that’s not slowing down, more is less, and less is the more we want. If we want to keep the magic alive, we need to innovate. It’s not a question of more. It’s how we can offer better. Can you keep your clients on their toes? Steve would never have settled for less.