But what can other mobile phone manufacturers and, more importantly, your business learn from this success?

The most important lesson is:

PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE (OR A SELECT FEW) BASKET/S

What do I mean by this? Well, Apple spend hundreds of millions of pounds developing the iPhone but it is the only mobile device that they produce and, let’s face it, it’s a phenomenal piece of technology.

Apple focuses on user-centric design. The iPhone is so intuitive that once you have used it you won’t want to go back to any other device. Not only that but it is so much more stable than any other platform. With other smart phones such as the BlackBerry Storm - system crashes, bugs and generally unpredictable behavior are the norm but this just isn’t the case with the iPhone.

The mistake that phone manufactures like RIM and Nokia make is that, although they also spend hundreds of millions of pounds on product development, it’s spread across a large number of new products that they are working on at any one time. In general, phone manufacturers seem to be constantly bringing out their latest model. They build many different phones in an attempt to try and cater for different segments of the market – each phone has a different look or set of features to try and attract different groups of consumers. When they release these phones though they have many software bugs and issues because they have not put the same resources and effort into getting it exactly right before its release.

What Apple have done on the other hand is focus on building a phone that is so great and so geared towards the user that they don’t need to constantly release new versions. When they do release new versions they are a development and step forward from the predecessor.

Here’s how this applies to your business:

Have a strong conviction and confidence about your products and services, know exactly what your about and focus on providing it to the absolute highest standard that you can. Don’t create new products or service offerings in an attempt to try and make what you’re selling fit to every different demographic group on earth. Focus on making what you’re selling great, develop it with your customers in mind, make it the best it possibly can be and have confidence in knowing that what you have to offer is great.

For instance, so often I look on businesses websites and find a company that is trying to be all things to all people. They offer so many different services in an attempt to try and attract as many people as possible. The problem is that they are saying so many different things that they effectively end up saying nothing at all.

Build a select number of great products or services, focus your efforts on them and have a strong confidence and conviction in what you’re selling.

You might not build the next iPhone but you will see improved results!