Apple thrives on customers' love

The company didn't create the MP3 player, the smartphone or the tablet computer, yet Apple products dominate each of those categories. Advertisement The iPod is so prevalent that it's commonly used as a generic name for any MP3 player. An iPhone is a status symbol of sorts, like a Louis Vuitton handbag, even though one version of the smartphone is now sold for $49. And the iPad reinvigorated a long-struggling category and turned this year's International Consumer Electronics Show into a tablet fest. Apple fanboy? Try Apple fandom. Consumers generally point to two aspects of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company's products that set them apart: sleek design and ease of use. The former is connected to the hardware, the latter to the software. Unlike most consumer technology companies, Apple controls both. "They have more control than any other consumer tech company has over their product lines — over the way their products are created, built and marketed," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD Group, a market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y. Google's Android mobile operating system has surpassed Apple's iPhone iOS in market share, but the online search giant doesn't make handsets, partnering with manufacturers such as HTC, Samsung and Motorola. That's led to a mishmash of Android-based phones. Though some have sold well, such as the HTC Evo and Motorola Droid X, none have come close to supplanting the iPhone's supremacy — even while it's been tied to the oft-criticized AT&T network. The iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS were the top-selling smartphones during the six months that ended in November, according to the NPD Group. Competitors such as BlackBerry- maker Research in Motion and Hewlett-Packard are now eyeing Apple's unique business model. "RIM is building an operating system that is going to scale between both their phones and their tablets as they go forward," Baker said. HP acquired Palm for $1 billion last year and appears set to release a tablet that runs on Palm's software. With control over the brains and design of a product, Apple has been able to take bold risks that have paid off. "They buck the conventional wisdom," said Dan Burcaw, a former Apple employee who now heads Double Encore, a Denver-based app development firm. "They oftentimes choose to remove features or remove things that maybe the industry takes for granted or believe is an essential minimum requirement." Apple was the first computer manufacturer to do away with the floppy disk drive. Unlike most other consumer electronics, Apple's iPods, iPhones and iPads have batteries that can't be removed. While that's drawn some criticism, the move has created "a better consumer experience because the iPhone's battery is significantly better than many of the smartphones on the market," Burcaw said. The iPod, released in 2001, set in motion Apple's transformation from essentially an afterthought in the personal-computer market to the technology giant it is today. It came with more storage, an attractive navigation click wheel and an easy way for consumers to buy music via the iTunes store. Roughly 70 percent of MP3 players purchased today are iPods, according to NPD.