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**Inside the Apple iPod Design Triumph **
//**Question: Describe the unusual business model used in the iPod's fabrication as developed by Apple.**// //  The business model that Apple used to fabricate the iPod was unusual starting with its product design. As Apple is notorious for its innovation, the company built the iPod from the outside in, focusing primarily on the physical design and appearance of the product. This created an advantage as it helped the company establish many of the iPod’s mechanisms and components, including the planar battery from Sony and the 1.8” Toshiba hard drive (Sherman). // //  Furthermore, Apple incorporated a layered design chain within its business model (Sherman). This strategy layered all of the iPod’s fundamental units such as the battery, hard drive, and circuit board, creating volume maximization as the amount of unused volume inside the iPod was minimal. // //  The organization also relied on third party providers such as PortalPlayer to create the platform and reference design for the iPod. PortalPlayer’s design strategy was to enable customization, provide a stable environment, and form relationships with other third parties that offered other capabilities (Sherman). As a result, most of the primary iPod design was performed by outside companies. // //  Lastly, it was also unusual for Apple to neglect the use of an ASIC or other custom chip to integrate all of the iPod’s functions into a piece of silicon. This could have saved more space and battery life (Sherman).

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**Jonathan Ive at the Design Museum **
//** Question: What distinguishes the work of the team of Jobs and Ive in relation to products designed by Apple? What new materials are enabling different design?**//  Design and innovation is an important aspect of the Apple team. Apple’s constant focus is on designing innovative technological products with emphasis on the notion of being user-friendly and “simple” for its consumers. Another distinctive factor includes the team’s passionate care and the neurotic attention to details that are often unobserved, like cables and power adaptors (Design Museum).  New materials that enable different design include polymer advances and twin shooting materials. Polymer advances give Apple the ability to produce composites to meet particular functional goals and requirements. Twin shooting materials allow the moulding of different plastics together or co-moulding plastic to metal (Design Museum). This gives Apple a range of functional and formal opportunities that did not exist before. For example, the moulding of plastic was used for the design of the white Macbook series.

**An in-depth look at the man behind Apple's design magic**
 ** Apple’s design team is unique in the sense that it is small and focuses only on what is important, as well as limiting the number of projects it takes on. According to Ives, the team has a profound understanding of the product’s materials, its tooling, and its purpose. All team members value the products they create and are highly dedicated to their work. For instance, the team operates at an exceptionally high level, both individually and as a group. They work together in a large open studio with little personal space but with great privacy (BusinessWeek). Furthermore, Apple’s design team constantly repeats its design process by making and remaking its models to visualize new concepts and potential innovations. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Other companies such as DELL, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft are now talking about design and the need to catch up to Apple perfecting its design game (BusinessWeek). They are now beginning to form their own design teams in hopes of catching up to Apple’s success. However, Apple still dominates the market and holds the competitive advantage for its innovative and high-quality products.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">//Question: Describe the importance of Apple's design team. Are other companies trying to compete with Apple by creating their own design teams?//

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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">**Works Cited:**
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; msobidifontstyle: italic;">BusinessWeek. “Who is Jonathan Ive?” The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 25 Sept 2006. < <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_39/b4002414.htm> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Design Museum. “Jonathan Ive – 25/25 Celebrating 25 Years of Design.” Design Museum British Council. 29 March – 22 June 2007. < http://www.designmuseum.org/design/jonathan-ive> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sherman, Erik. “Inside the Apple iPod Design Triumph.” Electronics Design Chain. 19 Jan 2009. < <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.designchain.com/testprint.asp?issue=summer02&template=coverstory >