USC Marshall School of Business

Business Insider ran a column by Ira Kalb on the reasons for Apple's success. Kalb wrote that while the media touts the company's platform control, Steve Jobs' obsession with detail and his genius, these are all cases of selective memory. The real cause for Apple's success is its marketing, he added. "Unlike the old days when rivals positioned Apple advantages as negatives, Apple has learned to communicate its unique advantages as benefits to customers," Kalb wrote.