This is an interesting excerpt from an interview with Jonathan Ive, the Apple designer responsible for most of Apple’s big products over the last decade, including the iPhone.
“For a large mulit-billion dollar company we don’t actually make many different products,” he explained. “We’re so focused, we’re very clear about our goals.”
He said that Steve Jobs had always made it very clear that this focus on products was the only reason for Apple to exist – and contrasted the culture with that of other companies who talk about having similar aims: “If you have to spend time institutionalising that, talking about it, you end up chasing your tail.”
So how did the company decide what customers wanted – surely by using focus groups? “We don’t do focus groups,” he said firmly, explaining that they resulted in bland products designed not to offend anyone.
Christopher Frayling reminded us at that point of Henry Ford’s line about what his customers would have demanded if asked – “a faster horse” – and it’s surely true that the point of innovative companies is to come up with products that customers don’t yet know they need.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/07/listening_to_mr_iphone.html
