@Parser, the "Provide Feedback link" is an excellent feedback loop for Apple that is in real time. It cuts out independent polling groups and gives the viewer opportunity to visit the site. I applaud the use of Apple products by the design engineers. A real life experience and test of functionality at the same time. Thanks!
Parser, Apple isn't doing traditional consumer survey but it is still getting feedback on its products from its customers. The company is getting information on the iPhone 4S not just from Consumer Reports but also from users directly. The information it gets may show up in the updates to the products or as a new product.
@Parser, You are right. Sometime we get fixated on "marketing and consumer feedback" we forget there are different ways to get consumers to provide information on what they want.
They don't do customer surveys, but each major Apple application like iTunes, iPhoto or Keynote has a pull down menu with Provide Feedback link, which takes you to Apple site where you can write what does not work or what you would like to see implemented. On the other hand I believe Apple engineers use their products themselves and discover cleaver ways to do things from a user perspecitive.
Some people say refining and others would say innovating like who would had put investment money into new cell phone when at that time Motorola, RIM and Nokia had already flooded the market.
@Parser, Apple actually prides itself on doing things others haven't thought of or done before. The company, reportedly, doesn't even do customer surveys to determine what its consumers might like. It just gives consumers what it believes they would like because, according to Apple, consumers really don't know what they like until they get it.
I can't say I agree completely with Apple but as someone once told me, "test your ideas first, and then if they beat mine, I'll adopt yours." Apple's strategy is tested so it's difficult telling the company to try something new. And, just refining what someone else has done or is doing won't make a company the best in its business. That's why Apple is selling the iPad at full price and RIM is selling its Playbook at a hefty discount!
When the two companies go head to head a third one needs to examine what these have done good and what bad and come up with a third solution. Was Apple able to do these comparisions very well in past?
@Electronics862, But how about a replacement for the two of them? If they won't replace one another, competitors aren't waiting to see them merely cannibalize each other. The competition is coming up with new things, new ideas and projects. We may get a platform that is easier to use and more versatile and, just as there was no facebook at the start of the last decade, it may exist only as a sidebar towards the end of the current one.
@Wale, Innovation is important to success in the electronics industry and the winner is the company that can come up with the best product or outwit other players. The barriers to entry are falling faster than innovators can erect new ones, though, and that is a concern to companies because with each innovation, the window to gain profits from inventions is limited.
@Hospice, I wonder too if Google isn't trying too hard to offer a bit of this and that. The extension of its operations to so many different sectors in high tech may initially be a good thing in that it expands and diversify sales but it could also result in brand dilusion or even brand perception problem. At some point, a company has to decide what its core message would be and this difficult task would only be made more daunting by the expanded operation.
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
Archived Dialogues
Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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