Via Loopinsight: A Vogue piece on Jony Ive.
Design critics now look back at the birth of the Jobs-Ive partnership as the dawn of a golden age in product design, when manufacturers began to understand that consumers would pay more for craftsmanship.
This is something that many people have always understood but until it was widely appreciated by “the counters of the beans” within companies, products would always be poorly designed.
I was recently in talks with CME in Belfast and they were extremely proud of their efforts in design and user interface and user experience engineering. I found it heartening especially as the fact they acknowledge design makes them a standout among the large software companies in Northern Ireland.
Apple were very good at bringing value to their customers. For example Napster offered free music but it was cumbersome to get a hold of, meaning it took a while to go from wanting an album to owning it. By making this step easier, Apple offered value to customers that previously didn’t exist.
Every free trade transaction operates on the principal of mutual benefit. Apple benefited its customers greatly, and in turn the customers benefited Apple through their value in money.