Apple isn't as Smart as you Think

Everyone thinks that Apple is such a smart company.  They make products that get people excited drooling and in line; well before stores open to sell it.  Benj, Jason, and I (Austin) were meeting with a potential client yesterday and were talking about social media and how many people complete skip over the monitoring/listening function and start pushing out content.

I made the parallel with Apple during our talk yesterday, that Apple isn't as smart as people think.  They just LISTEN better than most companies.  When they release a new update or feature set people tell them all of the things they wish it would do.  If enough people want a certain feature…it appears in a subsequent update or feature set.  This isn't Apple intrinsically knowing what will sell; its Apple listening to what their customers want and responding.  (So maybe this does make them smart…just in a different way.)

Are you Listening?

As we were talking with the prospective client and explaining that social media works in this way you could see light bulbs going off in their heads.  We really DO need to listen to what our customers are saying, what they desire, and then implement it.  It kind of makes me chuckle because marketers have been hiring focus groups for YEARS to do just that.  But, for whatever reason many people don't see the need to listen when it comes to social media.

Have you ever thought about Apple this way before?  To see another explanation of Apple's strategy take a look at this post from the 8bit Network from a slightly different angle.