WWDC and The Innovator’s Dilemma

I was reading Mark Suster’s post Understanding How The Innovator’s Dilemma Affects You today and it struck me how closely my thoughts on WWDC line up with Clay Christenson’s ideas.

Not surprisingly, there has been lots of twitter and blog activity this week about Apple’s dilemma in regards to WWDC. Is it broken? Does it need fixing? Does it need replacing? Does it just need to go away?

I’m not sure what will or should happen with WWDC, but I think there is a real danger here for Apple:

• Apple is successful because they work hard at doing what is best for their customers, which turns into good things for Apple.
• Continuing to please customers with better stuff than their competitors drives them forward.
• Developers are an important component of that success, even if they are not the driving force.
• A big part of what makes Apple’s products great is their consistency of purpose, style, and use.
• WWDC and other developer focused activities play a key part in helping third party apps maintain that consistency.

Apple’s dilemma

If developers are not regularly being immersed in the Apple way of doing things, will that produce a cultural shift that erodes that consistency?

I’m sure Apple has some smart folks thinking about these things. I am hopeful that, just as with their products, they will find some new and innovative ways to solve it!

Here is a little more information about me, Doug Sjoquist, and how I came to my current place in life. Hope you have a great day!