It was then not the device, but the ability to selectively customize the device for a given consumers' tastes and preferences in music that mattered. The iTunes ecosystem, now responsible either directly or indirectly for nearly one out of every four dollars Apple makes, was the most powerful catalyst of disruptive innovation the tech industry has ever seen (Tariq, Ishrat, Khan, 2011). Disruptive innovation was created in the initial processes of how Apple develops products, and continues to this day in the approach they take to integrating suppliers into the process early, defining very high levels of performance for each members of the value chain as well (Dedrick, Kraemer, Linden, 2010).

What is also unique about Apple's disruptive approach to innovation is the ability to learn from one product generation and use the insights and intelligence gained for the next product. This is how Apple was able to transition so...
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