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This is straight from Jobs’ mouth: We do no market research. They scoff at the notion of target markets, and they don’t conduct focus groups. Why? Because every

by grellas 17y ago

This is straight from Jobs’ mouth: We do no market research. They scoff at the notion of target markets, and they don’t conduct focus groups. Why? Because everything Apple designs is based on Jobs’ and his team’s perceptions of what they think is cool. Of all the items cited in this fine piece, this is the most important: true creativity is the product of a creator's vision and not of consensus. This holds true in all fields and in all times, in my view. Consensus aims for the average or the expected; creative genius will always strive for more. That said, it is quite risky for an average company to defy conventional conceptions of target markets and the like in building on their vision. It is only the very exceptional company that can do this successfully.

luminary 17y ago
One of Scoble's tweet: "@gruber you are wrong. I know several people who were on Apple's focus groups for iPad. Apple definitely does focus groups." http://twitter.com/Scobleizer/statuses/12253059320 http://twitter.com/Scobleizer/statuses/12253059320
vorador 17y ago
Okay, he said it, but is it true ? A large part of Apple's image is giving the impression that they're not like other computer manufacturers, that they're in a league of their own.
j-g-faustus 17y ago
Along the same lines, Donald Norman (usability guru, started the usability field almost single-handedly with the book "The Design of Everyday Things") recently said: "I've come to a disconcerting conclusion: design research is great when it comes to improving existing product categories but essentially useless when it comes to new, innovative breakthroughs." http://jnd.org/dn.mss/technology_first_needs_last.html http://jnd.org/dn.mss/technology_first_needs_last.html You can't ignore customers completely. Apple discovered this with the Lisa computer in the 1980s, which apparently was amazing for its time, but at $10,000 found no market. Perhaps Lisa was the computer Jobs wanted for himself, but it turned out that few others were willing to shell out that kind of money. On the other hand, it is clearly pointless to ask consumers how to design attractive or revolutionary hardware or software - you're the expert, you figure it out. But this doesn't necessarily mean that you ignore target markets altogether - the iPad is innovative, but still clearly focused on a particular set of use cases with a price to make it competitive with netbooks.

by grellas 17y ago

luminary 17y ago

One of Scoble's tweet: "@gruber you are wrong. I know several people who were on Apple's focus groups for iPad. Apple definitely does focus groups." http://twitter.com/Scobleizer/statuses/12253059320 http://twitter.com/Scobleizer/statuses/12253059320

vorador 17y ago

Okay, he said it, but is it true ? A large part of Apple's image is giving the impression that they're not like other computer manufacturers, that they're in a league of their own.

j-g-faustus 17y ago

Along the same lines, Donald Norman (usability guru, started the usability field almost single-handedly with the book "The Design of Everyday Things") recently said: "I've come to a disconcerting conclusion: design research is great when it comes to improving existing product categories but essentially useless when it comes to new, innovative breakthroughs." http://jnd.org/dn.mss/technology_first_needs_last.html http://jnd.org/dn.mss/technology_first_needs_last.html You can't ignore customers completely. Apple discovered this with the Lisa computer in the 1980s, which apparently was amazing for its time, but at $10,000 found no market. Perhaps Lisa was the computer Jobs wanted for himself, but it turned out that few others were willing to shell out that kind of money. On the other hand, it is clearly pointless to ask consumers how to design attractive or revolutionary hardware or software - you're the expert, you figure it out. But this doesn't necessarily mean that you ignore target markets altogether - the iPad is innovative, but still clearly focused on a particular set of use cases with a price to make it competitive with netbooks.