I see this kind of opinion a lot these days.
Would Apple would have gotten as far as they have, if they had made profit their primary focus?
A major focus of Apple is indubitably about making money. They can't survive in their present form otherwise. However, I'm not sure that this is their number-one focus. I'm also not sure that they could rightfully keep going if they chose the path of profit over customer satisfaction. There are plenty of electronic device and manufacturers and Web-based service and software providers out there who have taken that road and got caught up in the price wars, making products that are basically the same as their competitors in huge volumes to try and score a profit. I don't see Apple as that kind of company.
Maybe I'm just naïve, but I see Apple as a company that's struggling with what it has become (largely due to the wild global success of the iPhone) and still trying to reconcile this with its original ideals. I don't think they've been successful at it in all cases, and they've made some lousy screwups in various areas. Still, I just can't see that the company's ultimate driver is profit and chasing the bottom line, even in 2022.
Those who subscribe to this "Apple is profit first" point of view might find it interesting to go back to the Steve Jobs speeches and interviews on YouTube, to hear how he reconciled these issues in his mind. I think a lot of that is still present in Apple today. Still, they would do well to revisit that dialogue.
I don't think you're naive at all.
Yes, corporations should seek profit. But to do that, you have do so without alienating your customers, and provide a product that fills their wants and needs. Or even creates a want/desire/problem people didn't realize they had and fill it. This is basically how Jobs guided the company.
After the board booted him, nearly bankrupted the company, and then asked him to come back, Jobs showed VISION first and foremost. Yes, he wanted to sell a product, but he wanted his products to be the best, most wanted products out there, and to a large degree he succeeded, first with the iMac (which was honestly a terrible product then but met the want/"need" customers had), then the iPod, the iPhone, and of course the rest of the Mac line as they progressed. To a great degree, Apple is still doing this, but I can't help but think they are still running on the game plan Jobs left in place. Cook is no Jobs. He gets the perks of being CEO, but once Jobs' last ideas are implemented, what next? I think Apple is nearing that precipice quickly, as we are seeing some more questionable decisions of late.
So it comes back to what is your relationship with your customer base? Will you kill the things customers love because you might save a buck? That's incredibly short-sighted. Yes, there are plenty loyal to the brand, but many more who aren't. Drive them away and profits sink. Apple learned this during the "between" period when they 86'd jobs until they asked him to come back. It seems that lesson is slowly being forgotten, but "benevolent self-interest" will always achieve better results than a "profit at all costs" mentality.
