Apple Fights On Without Its Muse

By DON CLARK and  IAN SHERR

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204294504576615353634776110.html

In our work with MDG, we define the Business Design as:

Most companies tend to spend most of their time on deciding who the target customers are and what Value Propositions they want to create for these customers to establish competitive separation. Companies tend to spend less time on defining how they capture value as a competitive tool.

The essence of this article is understanding the potential  power of clearly defining how you capture value on the  impact on establishing competitive separation.

…."IPhone is the number one smartphone in the world and continues to be number one in customer satisfaction," an Apple spokeswoman said in response to questions about the competition. As for the Kindle Fire, she noted others have introduced tablets with seven-inch screens and a limited number of apps, and "none of them have gained significant traction against iPad's incredible momentum.".... 
...Amazon and Google pose particular problems for Apple because of their sharply different (Value Capture) strategies. Apple makes most of its money from hardware. Google gives away its software in hopes of reaping profits from search advertising. Amazon expects to benefit from sales of digital content; its chief, Jeff Bezos, even characterized the Kindle Fire as more of a service than a device….