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Without a helicopter view of the customer’s world, salespeople are selling blind. And when they do stumble upon a customer’s pain point, they can only refer to vague pain points (i.e. ‘time consuming’ or ‘prone to error’), because their knowledge of the customer is superficial.

Apple product sales of iPhone, iPad, MacBook. 51% yoy increase of iPhone unit sales in the U.S. in 3Q13. 93% Loyalty rate among iPhone owners.

Apple product sales of iPhone, iPad, MacBook. 51% yoy increase of iPhone unit sales in the U.S. in 3Q13. 93% Loyalty rate among iPhone owners.

Marty - NEW Matters 
The further Apple gets from a launch the more their sales dip. This is an instructive infographic in many ways because it shows:

* The POWER of NEW.

* The need for marketing to buffer technical timing. 
* The changing moible market.

Some may be distressed by how little Apple's mobile revolution helped their Mac sales. I'm not since Macs are moot. Soon if it isn't on a mobile device (i.e. phone or pad) we won't care all that much. 

Once the world lives in the cloud the way we access the apps, documents and data is less important than those old TTY devices we used to use to type into mainframes (back in the day). Macs don't matter. PCs don't matter. The CLOUD matters and our PHONES and PADS matter. 

Pad sales described in this infographic did surprise me, or the steepness of the dip did. Then I realized pads are a Christmas thing and we are a long way from last Christmas. 

Apple is to be applauded for cannibalizing itself. The iPod is all but extinct made so by the iPhone and cloud music players such as Spotify. 

I don't see Apple's developer network as robust as Android and that will HURT in the long run. Apple is famous for being a pain about what can be done and how. So the number of apps for iPhones have been keep lower than it could have been. 

The "app-ification" of the world would seem to favor Google and Android since they are more open. One can only hope Apple doesn't repeat the mistakes of the past even as they seem to be lining up to do exactly that. 

People develop on platforms that appreciate their work. Apple's famous snobbery is best rethought according to these numbers. No one gets to the to of our new Mt. Everest alone anymore and that incudes Apple. 

The tribe is strong but not growing and that is why dips of this size after a NEW launch happen. Today's profits need to become tomorrow's investment in a developer ecosystem or Innovators Dilemma author Clay Christensen's worries about Apple being "too closed" will come true.