This week is National Small Business Week. And many of our most well known companies are falling over themselves to pay homage. ADP,
But wait...where’s Apple?
You can’t get any more well known than Apple. So why aren’t they involved in National Small Business Week? Shouldn’t they be holding events in Cupertino or sitting right alongside Microsoft as a sponsor this week? Unlike most of its competitors, Apple doesn’t have a “small business” division. They don’t seem to do very much to market themselves to the 28 million of us who are “the drivers of the U.S. economy” and the “engine of job creation” as we’re so often called. It’s National Small Business Week, man! Don’t they care about small businesses? Isn’t small business important to them?
Come to think of it - where exactly was small business when Apple revealed all its new changes and plans at its World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) last week? Sure, they unveiled a new OS X with many cool features like tagging, technology designed to increase battery life, a new version of its Safari browser, a new password management app and improvements to their calendar. And sure, they announced new MacBook Air and Pro models and an updated design for the iPhone with a cool new Control Center, better multitasking, photos, security and a new look for Siri. And Apple continued to make improvements to its cloud offerings by launching a music competitor to Pandora and taking more steps to compete with Google Docs.
But there was nothing about small business. No Apple executives talking about our importance. No special campaigns or whitepapers about us. No press releases mentioning “SMBs” or “entrepreneurs.” No products designed with a particular emphasis on the small business market. It’s like the entire small business community was ignored only a few days before our nation bows down and celebrates us with our own week of festivities. It’s as if Apple doesn’t care about us.
Actually, that’s not true. Apple does care about small business. They just show it in a different way.
Take my friend David. He runs a five person marketing firm, a very small business. In fact, David’s firm could be considered to be bigger than most small businesses. Even the SBA’s data shows that of the approximately 28 million “small businesses” in this country, only about 6 million are employers with the rest classified as “non-employers” or “self-employed” (It’s on Table A.6 and based on 2007 numbers which is kind of dated, but the best I’ve got). And of those 6 million who employ people, 5.4 million have less than 20 employees. So really, most of who we consider to be small businesses are very, very small. And many of them, like David, are increasingly using Apple’s technology.
David, for example, has a MacBook, an iPad and an iPhone. Others in his company have all or a combination of the above. They have no server in their office so there’s really no need for Microsoft. They use a cloud based accounting application (FreshBooks) for their simple invoicing and time tracking needs and a cloud based customer relationship management application (ZohoCRM) for their activities. They send emails through Gmail and save documents on Dropbox. Microsoft isn’t completely ignored here – they need some of the advanced capabilities of Microsoft Office so they have the Mac version. Sometimes, though, they do their office work online using Google Apps. But there are no PCs, no Windows, no servers. David runs the very typical small business of 2013. And Apple is very much a part of it. A big part of it.
I asked David just the other day what complaints he has about Apple or his office technology. He had to think about it for a while. The best he could come up with was that the computers were more expensive than PCs. That’s a fair point. But what I didn’t here was “constant lock-ups,” “database errors,” “viruses”, “slowness.” And the fact that he had to take so long to even dig down and come up with an answer said enough for me.
So why doesn’t Apple do more to show their love and devotion to the small business market? They’re doing it. But not through marketing campaigns, sponsorships of Small Business Week and press releases. I seem them doing it in other ways.
For starters, Apple makes good and fast equipment. I know that sounds simplistic but it’s just true. Business owners like myself just want technology that works. We want to get our jobs done as quickly as possible so we can move on to other more important things like coaching little league or sleeping. As made clear at last week’s WWDC, Apple is focusing on three things: its operating system, its computers and its phone. And the features, functionality and performance of those three things heavily impact a small business owner like David. Making them better makes him better. No need to advertise that. They’re just doing that.
Secondly, Apple is letting the cloud do all the heavy lifting. They are not developing or worrying about “small business” applications. They know that if their devices, laptops and computers work well enough, a small business owner like David will be able to get all the applications, tools and social media services he needs from the cloud. And the choices and benefits will only improve over time. Of course, there will always be millions of small businesses that will need client-server and on-premise solutions, either stand-alone or integrated with cloud based technologies. But for the typical small business owner, those 22 million non-employers and those 5.4 million who employ less than 20 million...Apple suits them fine.
Finally, Apple merges consumerism with business. They integrate fun with work. As the data shows, most small businesses are very, very small – mostly non-employers. In other words: consumers. We enjoy listening to music at our desks, playing Words With Friends while waiting for the next meeting and FaceTiming with our kids while away at a conference. Apple knows that it’s OK to integrate work and fun and creates fun devices for us to use and enjoy and be productive. Which is why their focus continues to be on their operating systems and phones and not on applications designed specifically for the “small business” market. They’ll just provide a platform via their App Store for developers to do this.
Good and fast equipment. Leveraging the cloud. Integrating consumerism with business. Apple is doing this and many of the small business owners I know are responding by buying their products. They don’t need to advertise their love of small business or be a large player in National Small Business Week. They just need to keep doing what they’re doing.
Besides Forbes, Gene Marks writes weekly for The New York Times and Inc.com.
