Tag Archives: Apple

The Bond Between the Normal People and Technology has died – Bye Jobs

Posted on October 6, 2011 | 8 comments

Steve JobsAs we all know yesterday Steve Jobs passed away. This is not only a goodbye-we-all-loved-you post. It is more a concerned post about the future.

First of all, I have to confess that I have never bought any Apple products and that I have always thought that they never were the most technologically advanced or the best in the market. However, Apple’s contribution to the world has been another one, one that no other tech company has reached. They have connected the two worlds: Technology Evolution and Mass Market. This not only turned incredibly profitable but also allowed the developers to have their work finally recognized by a majority of the population. I’ll further explain this rather radical point:

Oxygen for the Techies!

On the one hand we had the developers and technological researchers that tried to develop new, more powerful and better technologies and products. And on the other hand we have the mass market dealing with more and more new products with infinite technical specifications, apps, operating systems, apps and never-ending changing stuff that they never completely understand. But here was Steve Jobs smoothing the path between the two worlds and making new gadgets not only very usable but very desired. I’m not going to enter in a long explanation on how has he done this (basically ’cause we all know) but my question is…

…Who’s gonna do Job’s job now?

Among all the big tech firms I cannot see a similar approach from any of them, at least not successfully. I am a Googler and I love this company, but I have to admit that I am an early adopter and that many times – too many times – Google’s products or its vision of the world are not suitable even for the early majority. A clear example is the Chrome OS: it arrives ahead of its time.

Distribution of Consumers - early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards.

I have a big concern on who is going to carry on this job. Will Steveless-Apple be able to continue?  Comment your opinions!

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Posted in Technology, Ways of Thinking

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Truth or Standard – What do you prefer?

Posted on August 13, 2010 | 1 comment

Focus on QualityIt is all about expectations and perceived quality: When you buy a product or a service you don’t normally want it to be the best possible quality, you actually want it to be as good as you thought it was when you bought it. In Marketing theory it is said that perceived quality – difference between expectations and after-buying perception of quality – is much more important than actual quality (Some definitions in business dictionary and studymarketing.org). So if you buy low quality cheap low-expectations stuff you might be very well more satisfied than with better products from which you expect much more.

Therefore, managing expectations in companies is as important as managing the real – or objective and measurable – quality of their products. Some of them do it great like Apple: Promise you nothing and give you a well-finished product, some of them do it worse like Microsoft: They promise you heaven every new windows and they give you the same unfinished crap as always.

But who are the real masters of perceived quality?

Politicians! In Spain they have managed to make us all believe it is normal for them to lie, so we do not expect anything else than lies and some lousy partisan work. This has lead to not valuing truth when it comes to politics. But if we do not value truth what can we trust? This has lead unavoidably to total lack of interest from the young generations in what politicians do, say or think. Bravo for them, they managed to share the power between a few without anyone worrying too much about it. Maybe politicians should stop so much rhetoric and start handing in some standardized reports at the end of each year just as companies do. So what do you prefer: Truth or standard?

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Posted in Marketing

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