Truer words have never been spoken: you don’t start with a cool technology and try to market it to customers…you start with the need of a customer, find the cool technology to address that need, then market the solution. It will sell itself. I’ve lost count of the number of products I’ve seen/reviewed where the technology is all the product has going for it; the customer experience is a disaster. I wish more companies understood this…
10 thoughts on “Start With the Customer Experience and Work Backwards”
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That man is truly a visionary. And he’s right. The iPhone is far from perfect, but when I switched from several years of Windows Mobile to the iPhone, the first thing I noticed is that every aspect of the device’s performance and user experience felt consciously designed. In the years I used Windows Mobile, it felt like every feature was an afterthought, hastily scratched together to meet a deadline.
That man is truly a visionary. And he’s right. The iPhone is far from perfect, but when I switched from several years of Windows Mobile to the iPhone, the first thing I noticed is that every aspect of the device’s performance and user experience felt consciously designed. In the years I used Windows Mobile, it felt like every feature was an afterthought, hastily scratched together to meet a deadline.
I’m sorry to all the other tech companies, but this is EXACTLY what Apple gets and they don’t. Still. To this day.
Apple gets that the out of box experience and the overall user experience is critical, not the numbers behind them. No one cares if they have a dual core processor and the fastest video processor ever in a phone if the phone lags when you load an app.
They really REALLY get this and it’s evident in all their products.
And by the way, this was in 1997 and companies STILL haven’t caught up to Apple in this way of thinking.
What do you think of Windows Phone 7? reply without the bias of your past experience.
i dont think so. many companies have caught up, problem is they cant compete with brand loyalty and sheer weight of superior mind share.
others just get lost in the noise of everyone praising and supporting one company.
Name one company that is even close. Just one that understands the difference between power and user experience.
Lots of potential, poorly executed.
I’m unable to reply without the bias of past experience. After Windows Mobile 2002, 2003, 2003(2), 2005, WM6, and WM6.1 across 8 devices (Compaq, HP, Dell, HTC, and Samsung), I’d had enough by the Blackjack 2 and Samsung Epix. Unless Microsoft or one of the OEMs would like to send me a review unit of a Windows Phone (7) device, I don’t plan to spend any more of my limited, personal funds on it. I’ve spent enough money on the platform, and received an unreliable, crap experience in return. Since 2008, I’ve had a first gen iPod Touch, an iPhone 3G, and an iPhone 4 and iPad 1, and been content with the iOS platform. If you want to send me a Windows Mobile 7 device, I’ll be happy to provide a fair review of it. But I’m done spending my money on that platform.
And no, I’m not personally biased against Microsoft. For full sized computers, I had a Dell Windows 7 PC and an HP Windows 7 laptop, plus I work for an organization that still deploys the freaking decade old Windows XP. I’ve lost hope for the Windows Mobile and/or Windows Phone platform, and have no plans to spend my personal money on it.
Can I ask, what do you think of Windows Phone 7?
Can’t argue with that, Vinny. It definitely has a lot of potential, but terrible execution.