Everyone Copies

Apple recently announced the iPad Pro, and with it the Smart Keyboard and Pencil accessories. Many in the tech community, including several tech reporters, drew parallels to Microsoft's Surface line of tablet-laptop hybrids. And some used the word "copy" to describe what Apple did.

Here's the thing: everyone copies. It happens in art. It happens in music. And it most certainly happens in technology:

• Apple copied Google in adding public transit to Apple Maps in iOS 9.
• Apple copied Windows in adding weather, stocks, and sports to Spotlight Search.
• Apple copied Windows in adding "snap" support to apps, letting them run side-by-side.
• Microsoft copied Apple in making an app store for desktop and mobile, and a retail store.
• Microsoft copied Google in providing snapshots on tap on Android.
• Microsoft copied Sony with their announcement that independent game developers could publish on Xbox One.
• Google copied Apple when adding Google Photos and Android Pay.
• Google copied Amazon when announcing Google Shopping for Suppliers, a competitor to AmazonSupply.
• Google copied Microsoft when releasing instant, visual previews of pages in search results.

The point? Patents aside, it's not about who or what you copy. It's about how you execute and what you deliver to customers. Plenty of the above examples show that you can take an idea and execute it way better (or way worse) than your predecessor.

Tech insiders and the tech press care about who you copied and who came first. Customers don't care. They just want products that are useful, solve their problems, and are delightful to use.

Focus on delighting your customers.