危 wēi  danger

In a matter of days after the launch of the iphone Apple’s whole launch strategy was shaken by hackers who had managed to ‘unlock’ the device – enabling them to open it for use with all network providers (a problem as Apple had signed exclusive deals) and write new programmes and applications.

机 jī opportunity

Apple swiftly recognized the opportunity in tapping into this ‘hacker’ talent pool and launched a developer toolkit and infrastructure to allow the developers to sell their ‘applications’.  In the space of 1 year over 50,000 applications had been written and over 1 billion downloads made.  The catalogue of applications now presents a formidable competitive advantage over Apple’s competitors.

How about…

• Seeking inspiration from the ‘hackers’ at the periphery of markets
• Harnessing informal networks to develop and adapt the offer – offering the customer increased variety and depth
• Designing the ability to ‘open source’ development into the offer to give the option in the future