Marketing teams constantly discuss the need to obtain the "voice of the customer." There are many cases where the best products are the result of talking to real customers and asking them what they want out of a product. It's a time-tested method that generally provides solid results. There are, however, limits to what focus groups can tell you. In the words of Steve Jobs at Apple, "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."
Now that the Apple Watch has been released, it will be interesting to see how it is received in the marketplace. While Apple products like the iPhone and iPad are now iconic, they were not given warm welcomes at their debuts.
When the iPhone came out, here was analysis by the market research company Universal McCann:
"The simple truth," said Tom Smith, the author of the iPhone-damning report, is that "convergence [an all-in-one device] is a compromise driven by financial limitations, not aspiration. In the markets where multiple devices are affordable, the vast majority would prefer that to one device fits all."
Only about 35% of those polled thought they needed "one portable device to fulfill all my needs". They couldn't imagine a future that had never existed before
A few weeks after that was written, the tide began to turn. Initial users of the iPhone had a positive experience and the rest is history. Ironically, the process would repeat itself again with the launch of the iPad.
Now comes the Apple Watch. Derek Thompson of the Atlantic writes:
Today, there are lots of people saying "I have no idea how I could buy a $300 smartwatch with no battery life when I have an iPhone already." They are telling the truth. They really can't imagine owning a smart watch.
But the moral of the story is that it doesn't matter that they're telling the truth. A smart watch that syncs with Apple's ecosystem and makes payments over the Internet and opens the door to technology that brings healthcare to wearables on a massive scale doesn't exist yet. Apple just invented it. Our projections of a piece of technology that's just been invented don't matter compared to the factors that actually drive adoption, like widely read reviews and the user experience of your colleagues, friends, and family. The success of Apple Watch is in their hands.
Here is the link to his full article: Why Would Anybody Buy an Apple Watch? - The Atlantic
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