Lessons from Apple’s Iterative Design and Airbnb’s Blue Ocean Approach

Q: 3. What is the Apple New Product Process ANPP?

The ANPP is a highly detailed, documented process. It defines every stage of product creation. It includes responsibility, location, and timelines.

November 1, 2025
4 min read

By Reeya Patel– Growth Marketing Manager

Product leadership requires two types of innovation. First, you need to perfect existing products through careful refinement. Apple’s iterative design processes show how to do this. Second, you need to create entirely new markets where you have no competitors. Airbnb’s Blue Ocean strategy shows this by changing the hospitality industry.

A modern product leader must master both approaches. You need rigorous, user-centered refinement and radical, market-creating vision.

Key Takeaways

Iterative Development reduces risk. It ensures continuous improvement by testing and refining designs in regular cycles.
Design Thinking guides Apple’s success. It ensures products solve real problems and are technically feasible.
The Blue Ocean Strategy creates market space with no competition. It requires pursuing differentiation and low cost at the same time.
Airbnb used Value Innovation. They connected local hosts with guests through a shared economy model. This offered customers an authentic tourist experience.
The ERRC Grid (Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, Create) is a key framework for finding Blue Ocean opportunities.

In this article

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Iterative Design and Blue Ocean Strategy

Innovation helps companies grow market share. Product leaders use different theories to guide their strategy.

Strategy	Primary Goal	Core Focus	Example
Iterative Design	Achieve the best possible product version.	Continuous improvement and user-centered refinement.	Apple’s product development cycles.
Blue Ocean Strategy	Create uncontested market space.	Pursuing differentiation and low cost at the same time.	Airbnb connects guests with local hosts.
Disruptive Innovation Theory	Develop a new market and value network to challenge major companies.	Developing products based on changing customer demands.	Airbnb penetrating the travel industry.

Apple’s Iterative Design Processes, Principles, and Examples

Apple puts design at the forefront of its business.

The Process Framework Iteration and the ANPP

Apple’s success relies on a demanding process that values design quality.

Design First: The design team does not report to finance or manufacturing. They set their own budgets.
The ANPP (Apple New Product Process): This is a documented process. It details every stage of design, responsibility, timeline, and location.
Executive Scrutiny: The Apple Executive Team holds a regular Monday meeting to review every product in the design phase. They focus resources on a small number of key projects.
Iteration Cycles: The design process continues even after manufacturing begins. The product is built, tested, reviewed, improved, and built again. These cycles often take 4–6 weeks at a time. This is a costly approach, but it gives Apple its reputation for quality.

Design Thinking Principles

In 1997 Steve Jobs returned. He caused an overhaul of the Strategy based on Design Thinking. His approach to design was concerned with the functionality of a product other than its appearance.

Design Thinking relies on three core elements:

User Desirability: Creating products that solve real problems. This requires empathy and user-centered research.
Market Viability: Developing a sound business strategy. This includes considering the competitive landscape.
Technological Feasibility: The application of technology to design products which are technically feasible.

Iterative development is aimed at minimizing the risks of product failure. It works by finding and resolving issues early in the process.

Airbnb’s Blue Ocean Moves How they created new markets

Airbnb was founded in August 2008. It used both Disruptive Innovation Theory and Blue Ocean Strategy. It provides hospitality services across 191 nations.

The Blue Ocean Strategy Defined

Blue Ocean Strategy designed by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne revolves around developing business spaces that have low or no competition to enable the firms not to experience pressure to compete in terms of prices, made rivalry obsolete. Its essence lies in the fact that it is looking at markets where competition is low allowing it to grow sustainably and make profits.

The strategy focuses on creating value based on the desire to differentiate and retain low costs which is a balance that can result in high level of profitability. The strategy is anchored on 6 guiding principles that involve redefining the boundaries in the market and focusing on the bigger picture, instead of just concentrating on the numerical targets.

Value Innovation and Market Creation

Airbnb used the Blue Ocean Strategy in terms of Value Innovation.

The Space that Airbnb Made: Airbnb has made a new market between hotels and long-term rentals. They employed the shared economy as a strategy.
Differentiation: The service provides customers with an authentic tourist experience. This is done by including the host community with the tourist community. The organization allows travelers to find accommodations across all price ranges.
Low Cost: Disruptive innovation helped Airbnb create cost-effective solutions. It helped the business avoid hiring large staffs for various operations.

Combined Lessons for Product Leadership

Apple (Iteration & Design)	Airbnb (Blue Ocean & Market Creation)	Combined Strategic Lesson
Focus on Design-Led Culture.	Leadership Mindset: Airbnb’s CEO is a designer.	Product Strategy needs Design Leadership that drives refinement and market vision.
Minimize Fragmentation: Focus resources on a few key projects.	Reconstruct Boundaries: Look outside the immediate industry to find new opportunities.	Strategic Focus: Be intense on iteration and also venture to new market spaces.
User-Centricity: Focus on the simplicity and usability.	Non-Customer Focus: Find those who had not been served.	To be innovative, one needs to comprehend what the people need and what the target segment wants but was not able to get.
Ongoing Improvement: Work with 4-6 weeks cycles.	Value Innovation: Target differentiation and low cost to redefine value.	Dual Track: Run rigorous iteration to ensure quality, while using strategic frameworks to validate new concepts.

Application Framework: How to adapt in your product context

Product leaders should use iterative development for quality. They should use Blue Ocean Strategy methods for market creation.

The ERRC Grid (Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, Create)

The ERRC Grid is used with the Four Actions Framework. It pushes companies to achieve simultaneous differentiation and low cost.

Action	Definition	Strategic Question for Your Product
Eliminate	Which factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?	What components are high cost but offer low customer value?
Reduce	Which factors should be reduced well below the industry’s standard?	Which feature complexities can be simplified?
Raise	Which factors should be raised well above the industry’s standard?	What key performance or experience factors should we significantly beat the competition on?
Create	Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?	What entirely new source of value can we introduce?

Integrating Iteration (The Design Thinking Loop)

Once a new strategic direction is set, use iterative development to validate the solution.

Plan and Research: Map requirements and conduct UX research to understand user needs. Focus on the context in which users interact with the product.
Design and Prototype: Create low-fidelity prototypes that demonstrate core features. Target the top three activities that a user would desire in the product. The UX design revolves around prototyping.
Test and Get Feedback: To test whether things really work in practice, do a usability test to find out. The test is also employed to identify and rectify the misunderstandings during the early stages of the procedure.
Refine and Repeat: Make modifications to the design based on feedback. Address usability challenges. The process repeats until the design meets user needs effectively.

Conclusion

Product excellence requires two things: radical market creation and disciplined refinement. Leaders gain a full strategic toolkit by studying Apple’s iterative design processes and adapting Airbnb’s Blue Ocean strategy.

Use frameworks like the ERRC Grid to challenge industry norms. Implement rigorous iterative development cycles. This ensures your product efforts are both visionary and robust.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How does Blue Ocean Strategy differ from Disruptive Innovation?

Blue Ocean Strategy aims to create an uncontested market space. It pursues differentiation and low cost simultaneously. Disruptive innovation theory focuses on developing new markets and value networks to eventually disrupt existing market leaders. Airbnb used both.