One of the things we had to tackle head-on in the book we’re releasing this June (title is Tuned In) was the subject of Innovation and specifically how it applies to the poster child for it … Apple. We found many of the same things you did. The concept of building your company around a culture of ‘Innovation is Everything’ is inpractical and ultimately highly risky. And it’s because of a fundamental issues of the amount of time & money it requires and one big one that Apple was able to overcome … finding a real market problem and having the built-in fortitude to stick with it until they created a complete experience that solves it.

Research is a funny thing that most people think about wrong. It’s not something you farm out to a bunch of analysts to gather data so that you can prove a business case, it’s real world observation by experts who are really good at market sensing and problem solving. Out of that grows the ability to innovate and produce the kinds of breakthroughs Apple has. We found that it’s much less about the process of innovation than the fact that it was based on something real. Everything else is secondary.

Rather than be discouraged by this though, I’d encourage entrepreneurs and product developers to be encouraged by it. If you narrow the focus, you have a much better chance of creating the kind of breakthrough in your space that Apple did in theirs.

Thanks for sharing!