Opening a channel and ONLY following customer desires is two very different things. Once again, I'm not saying to exclusively follow customer-driven suggestions. I AM saying put more channels in place to ALSO hear what customers want directly from those customers. Create channels to make it so decision-makers at the top can hear first hand (not third, fifth or fiftieth hand) what the market likes and doesn't like. Those DMs can then ignore everything that flows through that channel... or not... but if not, what's the harm in at least better hearing straight from those who have bought and may buy again soon?
The point of listening to customers is to have an opportunity to better match what you want to sell them with what they actually want from you. Listening doesn't BIND Apple to ONLY doing what consumers ask of them, but it does
add to the innovation catalyst pot, such that they might pick up a few things they might otherwise miss. At Apple's massive size, even ONE better idea sourced this way would be far reaching.
Classic examples via the oft-used Ford metaphor slung around here...
Ford is often quoted as saying: "
when we asked people what they want, they said 'faster horses'" Setting aside the offense of any one man basically calling his entire customer base ignorant- thus not worthy of even
asking for their input- by listening, there was something to still be gained there: customers wanted a
faster means to get from here to there. If customers as a group were indeed too ignorant to imagine a motor car, listening could help those that were developing a car to know that building one that could travel
faster than a horse & buggy would likely be well received.
When we sling that phrase around here, we're usually poking fun at our fellow consumers- or perhaps ALL Apple customers- again implying we're too ignorant to have any sense of what we want from Apple: only Apple in some kind of closed bubble can innovate, then bring a relatively small group of mind's innovations to market so that us idiots can finally learn what we want to own. Do we really think so low of ourselves and our fellow consumers? Do we really believe there is as little as nothing to be picked up from more effectively
asking for such input?
Back to Ford. Ford's innovation to show what the idiots really wanted was not a faster horse but an affordable motor car paid off huge. We could argue that IT was an iPhone-like innovation in that space. Ford quickly became King, dominating the auto industry.
Step a little forward in time. Ford has rapidly grown much larger than when it rolled out that first "iPhone." Infrastructure has significantly fattened up to handle all that business. Success has raged for years and years on the wave of goodwill forged with "next big thing" breakthroughs. Ford is King.
However, no lock on the top is automatically forever. Ford is later quoted on the subject of car colors. The market- them idiots again- was wanting cars in colors other than black. Ford famously flexed his "I know what my customers want better than they do" arrogance with a quote that went something like: "
They can have any color Ford they want... as long as it is black." Ha, ha, ha. He's so clever. Genius!!!
What happened? Customers decided to go buy cars in colors other than black from Ford competitors. Did Ford cling to their "we know best" mentality there? Can you buy a Ford in any color other than black today? Nevertheless, that corporate arrogance devolved Ford from King to just one of many players... from thoroughly owning a market to losing much share to others that proved better at giving customers what they want.
Does Apple's story have to replicate Ford's story? Of course not. Is this some kind of "Apple is doomed" post? Nope, just as that is no "Ford is doomed" post. The analogy is more just one of countless others when a company rose up from smallish to become King of it's space, then lost it's hold on that spot by losing touch with what customers want. That's been done over and over and over again. No company is immune to mistakes of the past if they don't learn from those mistakes and "think different."
My suggestion here is to TRY HARDER to hear what customers want. That doesn't force Apple to do ANYTHING different than it does now. But it might help Apple do things even better than it does now. Else, "you can have any size iPhone screen, as long as it is 3.5'" and "you can Siri control ANY music service with HP as long as it is AM" and so on. Eventually, even the most passionate faithful might want a <product> in a different color. Can Apple hear that before its market might shift, or does Apple have to lose a bunch of customers- as Ford (and many others) did- to then bend on the "we know better than our customers" mentality?
Whether individuals here argue yes or no, history paints a pretty consistent picture of how that almost always plays out. As a consumer (owning almost everything Apple makes), I want better from them. That idea is one way to get some fresh input from those who actually give them the (future) money. There is no obligation to give that money to Apple. It's on Apple to continue to succeed at luring them to do so. My suggestion is one way to get desirable ideas- good or bad- from those with the money Apple will want in the future, not obligating Apple to do anything with any such ideas.
