Was chatting to a friend whom I haven't spoken with for months, and he said his iPhone was due for upgrade, but that his friends were urging him to get a Samsung, saying the Galaxy was better. Over the recent months, several handfuls of friends have said similar things. In the same period, I can't recall any chatter about iPhone. My sense of the pulse is that the chatter in the marketplace is swinging to Android.
Now I'm not talking about the one-eyed fans of either system. Instead, I'm referring to the non-aligned users who just want a nice phone, and don't feel any allegiance either way. As for me, since I'm a long time Apple user, I feel a tug even to consider departing from Apple -- but the marketplace, in terms of sheer numbers -- is dominated by people who don't feel any loyalty to any particular brand. These often just go with what their friends tell them.
Apple is losing out on this non-loyal market because it has this tradition of refusing to listen to customers. It comes from Steve Jobs. Steve managed to pull it off well, but this is how traditions start where no one can remember why the tradition started in the first place. Years from now, Apple will still have this -- "how can those minions know what they want when they haven't seen it yet" attitude.
Can someone speak sense by telling me, what is so *@#)*&$%)@$^ blasphemous for Apple to just listen to what customers want and give it to them?
Long before Steve Jobs, this has been the time tested method -- for centuries and millennia, ever since people traded products for profit -- of having good success in this art of selling. The customer is always right. That's how it's been forever. For a few short years, Steve Jobs made us think that the manufacturer knows better than the customer, and he pulled it off -- but time marches on, as it did with Steve, and basically you can't change several millenia of the rules of buying and selling. The customers are always right. Why? Because they won't hand over the cash if they're not pleased.
The prime example is Apple's 6 years of refusal to offer matte, anti-glare screens on anything except the MacBook Pro. I mean, think of that. Apple -- the largest company in the world, occasionally, with a monopoly on producing hardware for OSX -- does not produce a non-reflective, anti-glare screens for any of its desktop products. Not saying everyone needs this (most don't, most seem to love glossy) but many people do need matte screens, and in a large minority.
In sum, all I'm asking is: what so _@$_(% wrong for Apple to listen to its customers?
Now I'm not talking about the one-eyed fans of either system. Instead, I'm referring to the non-aligned users who just want a nice phone, and don't feel any allegiance either way. As for me, since I'm a long time Apple user, I feel a tug even to consider departing from Apple -- but the marketplace, in terms of sheer numbers -- is dominated by people who don't feel any loyalty to any particular brand. These often just go with what their friends tell them.
Apple is losing out on this non-loyal market because it has this tradition of refusing to listen to customers. It comes from Steve Jobs. Steve managed to pull it off well, but this is how traditions start where no one can remember why the tradition started in the first place. Years from now, Apple will still have this -- "how can those minions know what they want when they haven't seen it yet" attitude.
Can someone speak sense by telling me, what is so *@#)*&$%)@$^ blasphemous for Apple to just listen to what customers want and give it to them?
Long before Steve Jobs, this has been the time tested method -- for centuries and millennia, ever since people traded products for profit -- of having good success in this art of selling. The customer is always right. That's how it's been forever. For a few short years, Steve Jobs made us think that the manufacturer knows better than the customer, and he pulled it off -- but time marches on, as it did with Steve, and basically you can't change several millenia of the rules of buying and selling. The customers are always right. Why? Because they won't hand over the cash if they're not pleased.
The prime example is Apple's 6 years of refusal to offer matte, anti-glare screens on anything except the MacBook Pro. I mean, think of that. Apple -- the largest company in the world, occasionally, with a monopoly on producing hardware for OSX -- does not produce a non-reflective, anti-glare screens for any of its desktop products. Not saying everyone needs this (most don't, most seem to love glossy) but many people do need matte screens, and in a large minority.
In sum, all I'm asking is: what so _@$_(% wrong for Apple to listen to its customers?
