Comments on: Will Best Buy Out-Innovate Apple?

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:46:46 +0000

Umm, Apple does not solicit customer feedback? You don’t think they don’t survey customers; have customer councils; run focus groups, etc.? Somehow they create great ads but their marketing brains turn off about customer feedback?

Frankly, ditto Toshiba, Dell, etc.. — They aren’t proactively talking to customers?

And customers can supply ideas of what they want but they don’t design innovative new products. E.g. “I hate the little keys on cell phones” — that doesn’t lead to the IPhone, it takes some talent to do that.

By: Netbookie

Netbookie — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:53:57 +0000

I disagree on card readers. Who wants to carry a USB cable around everywhere? If wireless USB comes to Macs and cameras then I think Reality Check will be right.

By: tentpole

tentpole — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:18:14 +0000

I think Mr. Spoonauer has confused Innovation with customer service. While it’s great that Best Buy is working with their suppliers to give the customers a better product, it’s not really innovative. Innovative is when you get something you didn’t even know you wanted, until someone else showed it to you. I didn’t know I wanted an MP3 player until Apple came out with the iPod. I had no idea a phone could be so useful until I saw an iPhone. I had no idea that I would want to shoot short videos any time, any where until I got a Flip Video camera.

Innovation is giving folks what they want before they want it. Best Buy is just doing customer service, granted at a higher level than most shops, but it’s still not innovation.

By: flypod

flypod — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:03:23 +0000

A retailer…. innovating? Really? Are you being serious?

By: Reality Check

Reality Check — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 06:50:37 +0000

Yeah and I can buy a Yugo that has an engine, 4 wheel hydraulic brakes, a radio and more for only $3000 brand new, oh wait they stopped selling these in the states because they were crapware! Guess what – quality has a price. A feature list isn’t everything Mr. Spoonauer.

Built in card readers in a computer are a stupid idea, a great sign that the designer has a serious lack of skillz.

By: Doug Marshall

Doug Marshall — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:43:26 +0000

I think Mr. Spoonauer is missing the point here. Unless Best Buy can design a state of the art OS, like Leopard, then Apple users are not going to covet any hardware that forces them to use Windoze. Apple makes decent hardware, but their genius is software design. It’s the reason all the iPhone clones are not iPhones. No MacApps. A more prescient prediction is that Best Buy will soon be going the way of Circuit City…

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:33:57 +0000

Bwahahahahaha! You’re kidding, right? Best Buy out-innovating Apple? That’s the most ludicrous question I’ve heard in a long time.

By: Doug Petrosky

Doug Petrosky — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:49:19 +0000

Is it really slightly ahead or somewhat behind? I mean seriously, it sounds like the people asked best buy to make laptops more like Apple does but at lower prices. The macbook pro has always been thin light, backlit and had good battery life. The macbook air got everyone thinking even more that direction. The real question here is would we have asked for those things if Apple hadn’t already put them into our minds? The fact that apple continues down those lines and one up’s it’s self regularly is what makes their products great!

What do you bet that next year best buy will tell toshiba to increase the size of the trackpad and allow for more finger commands through it, and maybe that they want their products to be greener and more sturdy. Maybe they will even ask for a latch less opening system? This is a stupid article! IMHO.

By: brockway

brockway — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:33:00 +0000

I really don’t see responding to customer feedback as being innovative.

By: Mark Spoonauer

Mark Spoonauer — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:22:06 +0000

Note that the title of this article is in the future tense. The premise is that today Best Buy is delivering exactly what its customers are asking for (in this case only slightly ahead of Apple) but the more feedback it gets the more it could possibly anticipate what the public might want in a gadget. The key will be for the retailer to pick out not only what the majority wants but is able to tune into that one or two brilliant ideas that will wow or surprise, as Auramac mentions.