I am told there is a TV comedy called Seinfeld. I've always doubted the comedy designation, in spite of the fact that I find Jerry Seinfeld's stand up routines hilarious. At one point, I was strong armed into watching an episode with a character called the "Soup Nazi". The Soup Nazi runs a restaurant that serves only soup. The soup is great and there is a line around the block to get soup. At the point of buying, the Soup Nazi decides if you get soup or not. If you are not worthy you go hungry - No soup for you.
So there was a great debate last year among the business pundits about Apple. Did Steve Jobs listen to his customers? Or more importantly does Apple listen to it's customers? The debate seems to seesaw between to propositions:
- Apple designs products that it's potential customers haven't imagined
- Apple continually surveys its customers to identify "net promoters"
These two propositions are true. The classic example of why a business shouldn't design for potential customers is the Edsel. Ford did the "right" market research and still lost money. Apple buys into the net promoter world view that there are "good" profits derived from people who promote your products, and "bad" profits from people who don't promote your product. This is snob appeal. The special people understand and buy your products and the rest don't matter. Apple is very profitable selling electronics this way. This is the Soup Nazi - make a really good product. Ignore your customers except to verify they are lining up. Only sell to those who are worthy.
- Want a dumb phone - no soup for you.
- Want a $200 tablet - no soup for you.
- Want a computer assembled in North America - no soup for you.
Is it fair? Probably not. Is it profitable - so far. Does Apple listen to it's customers - only when it has to.
Disclaimer - I own shares of Apple Stock.
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