CHAPTER 5

Foster a Feedback Loop

See feedback as a gift.

—Apple tenth anniversary poster

Steve Jobs didn’t rely on focus groups, because he believed that people did not know what they wanted until you showed them. In some cases this was very true. Would you have agreed to pay ninety-nine cents a song in 2003 when you could otherwise download songs on the Internet for free? But Jobs realized what most people did not—music fans would pay for a better, seamless, and legal customer experience. In January 2010, would you have told Jobs that you wanted to carry around yet another device in addition to a mobile phone and a laptop computer? Jobs realized that people really wanted an ultra-portable device that would make it easier to do e-mail, browse ...

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