Apple Comes Clean, Admits To Doing Market Research 221
colinneagle writes "In an interview with Fortune a few years ago, Steve Jobs explained that Apple never does market research. Rather, they simply preoccupy themselves with creating great products. On Monday, Apple's Greg Joswiak — the company's VP of Product Marketing — submitted a declaration to the Court explaining why documents relating to Apple's market research and strategy should be sealed. Every month, Apple surveys iPhone buyers and Joswiak explains what Apple is able to glean from these surveys. And as you might expect, Apple conducts similar surveys with iPad buyers. Apple wants all of these tracking studies sealed. Joswiak explains that if a competitor were to find out what drives iPhone purchases — whether it be FaceTime, battery life, or Siri — it would serve as an unfair competitive edge to rival companies. Further, competitors, as it stands today, have to guess as to which demographics are most satisfied with Apple products."
A few other interesting facts have come out of the trial so far; Apple spent $647 million advertising the iPhone in the U.S. from its launch through fiscal 2011, and they spent $457.2 million advertising the iPad from its launch up to the same point.
Re:They've turned their backs on Steve (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The Article is Wrong (Score:5, Informative)
Re:They've turned their backs on Steve (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah that is the first thing I check when shopping for new hardware, which one gets had the most profit into the pockets of the manufacturer.
Exactly.
Why are Apple customers so proud of the fact that they overpay for their products?
Would we all see cheaper cell service if carriers pockets weren't being emptied into Apple's coffers? [cnn.com] How about iPhone users start giving back to the their fellow citizens by switching to Android, instead of inflicting the cost of these overpriced device on the rest of the cell phone users. Every iPhone sold is a money out of my pocket, by way of higher carrier bills [latimes.com].
Re:They've turned their backs on Steve (Score:4, Informative)