Apple's Jobs Gives iPhone Customers What They Don't Want

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Mon Nov 3, 2008 4:08 PM EST

Of the top 20 most requested features, you have to reach 18 before you reach one Apple has implemented -- turn by turn directions.

Many analysts are puzzled that a company could be so out of touch with its user base. A publicist for FullSix, the " relationship marketing" company that created Please Fix the iPhone drive points out that most big companies have launched initiatives which they use to gather and implement user suggestions. They point to My Starbucks and Dell's Idea Storm as examples.

Apple does quite the opposite. It gives people random features they never requested (with the exception of 3G, which was more of an upgrade to modern standards than a feature). Many blame Apple's polarizing CEO Steve Jobs. Mr. Jobs has publicly stated before that he doesn't think customers know what they want, but he does.

Published to:

checkerbattery's Column, All of Newsvine
Groups: none
Regions: none

What's this?

Who's leading the conversation?

This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.

2.4

{"commentId":3856309,"authorDomain":"brianford"}

Brian Ford

Mr. Jobs has publicly stated before that he doesn't think customers know what they want, but he does.

It may sound conceited, but he's often correct.

The iPod. (Heavily panned when introduced. The rest is history. Widely criticized for not including features people allegedly want such as an FM receiver, only to prove that people don't really care for those accessories.)

The iPhone. (Heavily panned *before* it was introduced, the rest is making history. "A phone with no physical keyboard will never sell." etc.

The floppy disc. Jobs ditched it on the original iMac, was roundly mocked, and turned out to be right. Other companies hobbled along, late to the party as usual.

The fact of the matter is, Apple has their finger on the pulse of what consumers *actually* want more than any other electronics manufacturer on the planet.

While one would thing one or two of these fixes -- requested by users and trumpeted all about by the media -- might be added, the iPhone 3G came with exactly none of them. What it did come with were a plethora of features that were met with varying reactions from modest enthusiasm to total indifference, includingGoogle Street View, direct podcast downloads, application ratings on deletion, line in support (for mics), Emoji icons, location sharing, and Safari tweaks (not crash proofing). These fixes can easily be gleaned by glancing through leaks from the iPhone Firmware 2.2 Beta 2.

I'm sorry, but that's a bull@!$%# list, and intentionally leaves off a long list of improvements to the iPhone 2.0 software:

Enterprise support
Third-party apps
Contacts search
iWork documents and PowerPoint
Bulk delete and move
Photo saving
Scientific calculator

The iPhone 2.1 software added *even more* to the OS.

So, this article fails the sniff test right from the outset, in making BS claims. Did the author simply "forget" to mention all these other features, or is he a disingenuous hack looking to write a misleading hit piece about Apple?

{"commentId":3856309,"threadId":"408179","contentId":"2068399","authorDomain":"brianford"}

2 votes

#1 - Mon Nov 3, 2008 4:48 PM EST

{"commentId":3861356,"authorDomain":"jaybutler"}

Jay Butler

Looks like the author skipped the first 18 items on the v2 features list like he claimed Apple did on the wish list.

While 3G is important for the future, there is not that much coverage in the US for it yet. For most of the country, this is a marketing feature since so many will only have EDGE coverage.

Admittedly, some things like cut & paste would be nice to have. But, when using an iPod Touch, I don't really find myself missing it as much as I thought I would.

{"commentId":3861356,"threadId":"408179","contentId":"2068399","authorDomain":"jaybutler"}

1 vote

#1.1 - Mon Nov 3, 2008 9:28 PM EST

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"408179","isPrivate":false}

CHECKERBATTERY

Backyard

Apple's Jobs Gives iPhone Customers What They Don't Want

Published to:

FUN STUFF:

COMPANY STUFF:

LEGAL STUFF: