“Some may say that Apple could be lackadaisical about determining the intent of the iPad because they have blindly loyal customers that will buy anything blessed by Steve Jobs,” Richardson writes. “That may have been true in the past, but Apple today is a mainstream consumer brand, and many of its customers today are not its traditional niche base. They buy based on perceived value, some of which is functional value (what it does for them) and some of it emotional value (how it makes them feel).”
MacDailyNews Take: We have never purchased an Apple product “blindly” and we challenge Richardson to find a more loyal Apple customer than anyone here at MacDailyNews. (Good luck with that quest, Don Quixote.) We buy Apple products because experience has taught us that the company’s products work well because Apple sweats even the most minute details. Apple products are not perfect, nothing is, but they are routinely far closer to perfect than competitors’ inferior wares.
Richardson continues, “It takes great discipline — not lack of it — to leave a product so open to determination by consumers and, in Apple’s case, developer partners. The typical temptation is to button up the product definition very precisely so that you know exactly how to pitch it to consumers and retailers, and how it stacks up against the competition.”
“This doesn’t mean you should aim to launch vanilla products that lack clear value propositions. There still needs to be a hook to generate interest, but when you’re entering or creating an emerging category that’s still in flux, you should not prematurely shut down options,” Richardson writes. “If Apple had over-constrained the iPad it may have missed out on people outside its traditional markets seeing the opportunities with the device and feeling like it was open enough for them to try out experimentally.”
Read more in the full article here.
“Apple is too open!”
“blindly loyal customers that will buy anything blessed by Steve Jobs”
When will these idiots ever actually use the products and do the math?
I have been been buying Apple products for 20 years, because of: quality, dependability, ease of use, value and TCO. I am cheap and frugal, and know quality when I see it. The choices have been so easy when stacked up to the competition.
“Apple products are not perfect, nothing is, but they are routinely far closer to perfect than competitors’ inferior wares.”
Close to perfect is right. I recall unpacking my iMac 2008, almost astonished that I couldn’t detect any flaws. “Perfect!”, I thought. OK, I didn’t like that the power plug came straight out rather than angling down. And I had trouble with the ball on the mouse some months later. I also knew to expect off-axis viewing would be washed out. But still, if that’s the worst one can come up with …
If you tell them exactly what it is, you run a very high chance they may not want it. If you let them decide what it is, you have a very high chance that it will be exactly what they want.
In other words if you say “this is for doing X” then you will only sell to the people who want to do X. But if you say “it’s magical and we still don’t know all it can do” you open the door to everyone.
Perfect? Get real, this one time at band camp, I had to restart my Mac Performa. Man, I’ve been pissed for twenty years about that.
3 easy examples of Apple sweating the details:
1.) The default value/preference is almost always the one that 95% of people would have chosen anyway.
2.) The way the second-hand on the Dashboard clock bounces like an old analog clock.
3.) The sleep light on their laptops that exactly mimics human respiration while asleep – down to the 12 cycles per minute.
@disposableidentity,
“blindly loyal customers that will buy anything blessed by Steve Jobs”
All, but “ALL: hard core windows users that have criticized Apple and its products have tasted one of them, NEVER go back to microsoft of pc products.
The only people I have see that criticized of don’t like apple products are the idiots that give their opinion with out actually using the device.
I think to be honest his statement about ‘may have been true in the past’ was to simply defend against the typical and moronic accusation that he is simply a fanboy. Sadly these days a serious commentator has to establish the idea that they are objective by such a meaningless statement for those who will never consider a commentator’s history when expressing a prejudicial gut response will do. This is the legacy that the mindless Microsoft has left to us and the concept of objectly judging technology. Thankfully at least most people can now see the light, well unless you are Thurrott and his lame brained minority of technological retards of course.
I bought Macs and enjoyed using them for years. I honestly had no idea how good they were and how well the OS worked until I was forced to use a Dell Inspiron laptop running Windows ME.
What a frigging nightmare. The hardware was crap and the OS made Vista look good.
Running XP SP 3 in emulation mode on my MacBook Pro now for that one Windows program that my consulting business lives on. Life is good again.
An insightful and clearly-written article.
Didn’t this tool listen to SJ? The iPad was created first but they put it on hold because they thought it would be better as a phone first. Then after the phone was made, marketed and shipped, they went back to the iPad. No “lackadaisical intent” what so ever on Apple’s part, just dang good business practices.
Moron
As so many can testify, I am loyal Apple customer since 4 years ago. Why? Starting off, I simply had had enough of PC woes. I didn’t even personally know of anyone with a Mac when I purchased mine. I had heard Rush Limbaugh talk about Macs very favorably and as the saying goes ‘once you go Mac, you never go back’. So true. My Apple brand loyalty has nothing to do with blind loyalty, but rather recognition of a much superior product and without the many headaches, hassles, and intrusions of PCs. (Please, I am not trying to politisize. The subject matter here is Apple products and brand loyalty. Simply relating no more no less how it is that I came to purchase a Mac. Can we leave it at just that? Thanks.).
I think he makes a very salient and insightful point
@blind NOT
Welcome to the Mac user community! We are a much more diverse group than many people might expect. We may not agree with your politics, but your choice of OS and mobile devices is copacetic.
Honestly I am one of apples biggest fans and I would never get a product blindly….I compare with others to see benefits….just another envious pc lover
@KingMel
Much appreciated.
From the article:
“Some may say that Apple could be lackadaisical about determining the intent of the iPad because they have blindly loyal customers that will buy anything blessed by Steve Jobs. That may have been true in the past, but Apple today is a mainstream consumer brand, and many of its customers today are not its traditional niche base. They buy based on perceived value, some of which is functional value (what it does for them) and some of it emotional value (how it makes them feel).”
PERCEIVED VALUE
Precisely what I have been saying for a long time.
Well, If I’ve been buying my Macs blindly, they always managed to get me where I was going… must be magic.
@KingMel
We may not agree with your politics, but your choice of OS and mobile devices is copacetic.
ditto
The G3 blue and white tower was crap, the FireWire ports crashed any drive attached. But my G5 tower has lasted fine since 2003! Only now I don’t use it…iPad.