Three weeks in Chicago can be an uplifting experience for an Englishman normally resident in Scotland. The windy city seems to be the true center of innovation. Forget Silicon Valley or Redmond. In Chicago they find new ways of making money every day.

What does Chicago have to do with the title? Not much really except Apple, Google Search and the 4 Way Stop are wonderful examples of the innovation that's driven by competition, and in Chicago competition is a way of life.

Visiting the Apple store in the Oakbrook Mall is an experience worth the price of the ticket, on its own. Every store in the Mall is virtually empty, but the Apple store is heaving. The plain white and glass front with only the opaque Apple logo for signage belies the hive of interest and activity within. This is a truly amazing experience. People from every demographic are lined up, to try out the new toys or maybe just talk Apple to others just like them. Mac's, Displays, iPods and iPhones are all there together with all the new software but it's so busy it's hard to find somebody to take the money. At the back of the store the Genius bar is crowded, and you need an appointment to speak to the experts here who can help with anything Apple.

It's obvious that. alongside all it's other innovations, Apple is redefining the retail experience. Just like the products the Apple store is simple, elegant, functional and fun. OK it's expensive but there's something special about an experience where somebody else has taken all the complexity and hard work out, so the customer can just enjoy the functionality.

An interesting footnote to corroborate the message. In the security screening line at the airport stands a guy carrying a brand new Macbook Pro, in it's delivery case. Apple works just as hard with its packaging as it does with its products, so the case is elegant and functional but why advertise to the world you're carrying $2,000+ of new notebook? The guy obviously wants everybody to know he's one of the converted. It wouldn't happen with a Dell.

Just as Apple is redefining everything it touches, Google Search has transformed the world of information with the same commitment to simple, elegant functionality. When the TV screen is obscured with a huge white error code in the middle, don't call the repair man. Just punch the numbers into Google Search and you'll be offered a page written by some helpful geek explaining the remotes for TV and PVR are out of synch and telling you how to fix it by pushing buttons. Google has taken all the hard work out of finding information and made it simple, and fun.

Apple and Google can be seem to be innovating in the same technology space, but where's the relevance of the 4 Way Stop? Twenty years ago, the 4 Way Stop seemed, to Europeans at least, the most ridiculous device. European roads are dominated by rules, regulations, signs , lines, traffic lights and roundabouts. The 4 Way Stop seemed so archaic.

In 2008 its a very different matter. The 4 Way Stop is now simple, elegant, inexpensive and best of all, it works much better than all that road furniture. And it doesn't matter what you're driving or how much money you have, the rules are the same for everybody. First to stop is first to go.

Back to the theory of competition driving innovation the three examples don't seem to fit that well. After all the 4 Way Stop has been around as long as automobiles. It's hardly innovative, but would be if introduced in Europe.

The commonality across the examples isn't the innovation per se, it's the simplicity. There's been no need to innovate the 4 Way Stop, because it's already so simple it can't be improved. Most other stuff in the world can be, through innovation driving simplicity, and it's competition that drives the innovation. Making goods and services available to more people at lower cost is the point of competition, and "available" in this case means "simple".

And finally back to Chicago to note Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, widely recognized at the architect who "built Chicago" is best know for his philosophy - Less is More.