Page 70 - The Apple Experience

CHAPTER 5

Foster a Feedback

Loop

See feedback as a gift.

—Apple tenth anniversary poster

Steve Jobs didn’t rely on focus groups, because he believed that people did

not know what they wanted until you showed them. In some cases this was

very true. Would you have agreed to pay ninety-nine cents a song in 2003

when you could otherwise download songs on the Internet for free? But Jobs

realized what most people did not—music fans would pay for a better,

seamless, and legal customer experience. In January 2010, would you have
told Jobs that you wanted to carry around yet another device in addition to a

mobile phone and a laptop computer? Jobs realized that people really wanted

an ultra-portable device that would make it easier to do e-mail, browse the

Internet, and enjoy photographs, video, and books. Nobody asked for the

iPad, but they couldn’t buy enough of them. When it came to big

innovations, Jobs did indeed rely on his intuition and imagination. But it is

incorrect to assume that Apple never listens to its customer. The exact
opposite is true. Apple listens to its customers all the time and more

important, actively solicits feedback from both its internal customers

(employees) and external customers.