Topic: What do you think of this quote...

[tendoboy1984]

Some people say, "Give the customers what they want." But that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, "If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, 'A faster horse!'" People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.

Steve Jobs said this once, and I pulled this quote from his biography. What do you think, would you agree or disagree with his statement?

[Dasmos]

Can we have a limit to how many threads can be created per day/week, or maybe just limit how many newer[\i] members can create?

[lolmonade]

Tendoboy World Report.

[BranDonk Kong]

I think the quote is largely bullshit to be honest. Customers wanted MMS on their phones, but it took Apple two years to give it to them. It's a nice quote I guess, but I don't believe it to be his actual way of thinking.

[NWR_insanolord]

I think his point was that nobody was asking for the iPad. People didn't know they wanted them until Apple showed them off. Your example doesn't actually go against what he said, because that's an example of something people already knew they wanted.

[Ian Sane]

This applies to videogame sequels quite well.  Ask anyone what they want in a new Mario game and 90% of them will say "Yoshi", "Koopa kids", "SMB 2 mechanics" or whatever rehashed idea they'll think of from a previous game.  Sometimes they literally ask for EXACTLY the same thing as before.  What a good developer does is not give them Yoshi but give them what Yoshi was in SMW - a brand new idea that no one asked for but everyone immediately loved.

A car essentially is a faster horse.  You just have to think outside the box a little to determine how to truly meet that request.

[nickmitch]

Just giving people what they want doesn't allow room for innovation, only improvement. However, what I think Brandogg was touching on is that you can't flat out ignore customer needs/wants either.

[ShyGuy]

I'm selling punches to face on the street corner.