Innovation at Work

The cover story in the current FORTUNE (Feb 21, 2005) asks "How Big Can Apple Get?"

First, a disclaimer. I'm a big fan of Apple's products, hardware and software, and my user experience combined with my admiration for how easy they are to use - and how productive I can be with them - make me incredibly loyal, almost groupie-like.

The FORTUNE article (you can read it here) lays out much more than Apple's recent successes building on the iPod and the iTunes Music Store. It correctly points out that the software and hardware complement that is at the core of Apple's experience just makes everything work better. And it's cool when it works better.

Apple has been an outstanding innovator for the last five years. CEO Steve Jobs calls Apple "the most creatively advanced technical company." (Pixar, the studio behind "The Incredibles," "Toy Story," and other animated masterpieces - also behind CEO Steve Jobs - is "the most technically advanced creative company.")

It leads me to wonder: what if HP and Apple were to merge, or one were to acquire the other? HP is having big trouble competing against Dell in computers. By dropping Windows as its default OS - and picking up the Macintosh operating system - HP could live up to its "creative company" dream for itself. And Apple might benefit from HP's enterprise and services capabilities, maybe even establishing a foothold in the corporate world. I don't know. Just thinking...