Does Apple Use Market Research?: Industry Strategists Weigh In

Does Apple Use Market Research?: Industry Strategists
Weigh In
By Mary M. Flory
Chalk it up to semantics, bravado or just a plain difference in opinion, priorities or strategy, but
there is no misconstruing Apple executive Phil Schiller's statement during the recent Apple v.
Samsung patent-infringement court proceedings:
"We don't use customer surveys, focus groups, or typical things of that nature. That plays no role
in the creation of [our] products," he said, as originally reported by CNET.
Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, spoke briefly, yet candidly, about
the company's approach to using market research, or rather, not using it. Historically, Apple
representatives, including the late Steve Jobs, have spoken of how the company does not rely on
market research in product development.
“We never go and ask the customer 'what features do you want in the next product?' It's not the
customer's job to know. We accumulate that ourselves," Schiller said, according to CNET.
“[Steve] Jobs always quoted Henry Ford: ‘If I would have asked my customers what they
wanted, they would have said a faster horse,’” points out John LaRocca, the vice president of
strategic partnerships at Cincinnati-headquartered dunnhumbyUSA, which ranked 15 th on the
AMA’s annual Honomichl Top 50 list of market research firms.
It’s true that Apple does not conduct traditional consumer research, he concedes. “But, what I
think [Schiller] means is that they just don’t focus on attitude and usage surveys. They are doing
what the industry calls ethnography, meaning that through their Apple stores they watch how
people use their devices and see how they interact. I’ve read a few articles on Apple, and I think
that it just boils down to [the fact that] they’re creating game-changing innovation. How do you
describe the next big thing?,” he asks.
Mark Schulman, the president of Cambridge, Mass.-headquartered Abt SRBI, which ranked 14 th
in this year’s Honomichl list, adds, “Market research is not particularly adept at measuring new
concepts. It’s good at brand extension. It’s good at customer service. However, there are kinds of
insights that market research, polling and focus groups can’t deliver.
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“Technology develops through a very collective process,” he says “A lot of people, a lot of
software developers, a lot of very intelligent users, etc., pushing the envelope … thus pushing the
technology forward. And again, this is not something that can be accomplished in a focus group.
If we’re talking about more traditional products, rather than new product concepts, market
research is very effective. In terms of new product development, Apple has always prided itself,
as far as I know, on developing through insight, not through polls.”
David Fish, senior vice president of marketing and product development at Fenton, Mo.-based
Maritz Research, which came in the No. 12 spot on this year’s Honomichl list, says, “A lot of
people don’t regard customer experience research as marketing research; they think of it as
customer satisfaction or customer experience.” He suggests that Schiller could be focusing more
on the product development activity and less on customer experience and satisfaction.
“I don’t think the market research industry is in jeopardy of becoming irrelevant, but I do think
that different companies put a different emphasis on using it. Some just don’t, some use very
little and some use quite a bit. I think there’s always a need to show the efficacy of research
because it is such a distill influencer of product outcome.”
Mary M. Flory is the AMA’s Managing Editor of Magazines and e-Newsletters. Be sure to continue this
conversation about the role of marketing research in product development in the Marketing Research
Group in AMAConnect, the AMA’s new online community. You can also follow us on Twitter at
twitter.com/marketing_power and our marketing research list @marketing_power/resrch.
Marketing Researchers 2 August 2012