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“It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want.”

That was what Steve Jobs has has been saying for years.

The statement seems to be rippling through the marketing community now that Jobs has resigned.

NY Times, Without Its Master of Design, Apple Will Face Many Challenges

Mr. Jobs explained that his design decisions were shaped by his understanding of both technology and popular culture.

His own study and intuition, not focus groups, were his guide.

When a reporter asked what market research went into the iPad, Mr. Jobs replied: “None. It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want.”

What’s the rub?

Jobs’ success flies in the face of marketers who spend  time and energy arguing for and doing extensive consumer research (surveys. focus groups, etc.).

And, it’s hard to argue with his success,

Hmmm.

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This entry was posted on August 26, 2011 at 6:32 am and is filed under Jobs, Steve, Mktg - Consumer Behavior, Mktg - Market Research, Mktg - Product & Innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to ““It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want.””

  1. Laj's avatar Laj Says:
    August 29, 2011 at 9:03 am | Reply

    While that’s a good quote, it’s also clearly a good lie. Apple puts a lot of time into understanding its consumer, which is not quite the same as market research and surveys.

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