In the end, people want to join something they can believe in, agents of change, and then take the journey.
So if a brand steps up with a new approach or philosophy that appeals to a specific group of people and has deep impact, it is likely to stay even if in the beginning the steps are hard. The story is paramount, then design is the part of communicating the vision and making the ideal tangible. Apple’s success was always in perfecting all aspects of a product, and putting the end user central. Left alone the business approach, I have always enjoyed their aesthetics and user interaction and hope they continue expanding on that with breakthrough innovations.