Recently Apple changed its review policy on the App Store. Now you are required to purchase the application before posting a review. Matt Gemmell alerted the blogosphere with a post titled: Apple is Listening. But I’m not sure they are.
Apple’s greatness comes from an unyielding focus on what they feel to be the right course. That is how it is described when the strategy is successful. When it’s not, the description is stubborn, ornery or thick-headed. But Apple is successful, and a lot of that success comes from not being pulled in too many directions (c.f. Microsoft).
What does influence Apple? Steve Jobs, often in keynotes, refers to user requests, but it is hard to know if his comments are true or simply cover for crippling a first generation product to sell to the rabid fan base and then coming out with a revision that makes sense to sell to the less forgiving consumers. For instance in the 2003 Paris Expo when Steve Jobs introduced the second revision of the 12 in Powerbook, he stated that the addition of a DVI port was their number one user request. I doubt it took user requests to realize that people buying a 12 inch computer wanted great I/O connectivity to an external monitor.
My guess is that a few key executives influence most of Apple. There is not a vibrant culture of ideas bubbling up at Apple. And whatever esoteric interests those executives have probably influence Apple more than all the tweets and posts about the App Store rejection policies ever do.
In contrast to Apple stands Palm Inc. Palm was involved in perhaps the most notorious example of the blogosphere influencing a technology business when Engadget presented a laundry list of grievances to Palm, Inc, and Palm actually wrote back. At the time it seemed sad, and as Palm continues to fade into irrelevance it is hard not to see that act as harbinger of things to come. Even Engadget put an exclamation mark on their headline[ˆ1] like a kid whose fan letter to their favorite rockstar had gotten a response.[ˆ2]
[ˆ1]:”Palm’s Ed Colligan responds to our open letter!” [ˆ2]: Engadget’s first line read: “Ok, so we totally weren’t expecting this one, but Palm’s CEO Ed Colligan publicly responded to our open letter to Palm.” Worst yet, Ed Colligan admits to forwarding it to his entire staff. When the direction you give your company comes from Engadget, fire yourself.
In the case of changing the App Store review policy, there is no evidence this was not an internal Apple decision, sui generis. I understand that Gemmell’s heading was to a small blog post and not meant to be a definitive statement on company policy, but my point is not to focus on one statement, but instead to name a frustrating reality that Apple’s followers must come to terms with: Apple does not listen. Whether it be for that headless iMac, or cessation of the iPhone NDA, we might as well be hollering to ourselves.
And while this policy is frustrating, one must come to terms with the reality that if Apple were listening we would not have a company worth following. Unfortunately if we want those music saving features like Genius playlists, we must put up with the silence on the other issues too.
Apple’s greatness comes from providing solutions and features no one previously thought of. Their success does not come from waiting for sites like Engadget (or even venerable developers) to point out where they should be headed. Even when they should be listening, sometimes Apple is just stubborn. Too bad its what makes them great.