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customers’ mind, in order to Although Peter Drucker emphasized
discover the desires, wishes, and the importance of knowing the
the hidden causes of their options, customer, he did not narrow this to
so that there is a possibility to get just asking the customer what they
them what they want.” want; he intended that business
Neuromarketing is one way of Did Alexander Graham should also think ahead and find
understanding the customer, and Bell do any market ways to innovate. “The “want” a
it is actively used by companies research before he business satisfies may have been
such as Google and Disney to test invented the telephone? felt by the customer before he was
consumer impressions. However, it Steve Jobs offered the means of satisfying it,”
is not in itself a solution to knowing he reasoned. “It remained a
what customers want to buy. A potential “want” until the action
broader perspective is needed to of businessmen converted it into
truly understand a market and the effective demand. Only then is
elements that shape it. In some there a customer and a market.”
cases it is pure innovation, driven Professor Ranjay Gulati
by a desire to transform the way doesn’t mean we don’t listen to maintains that the first step in
people live through technology, that customers, but it’s hard for them understanding the new, highly
gives customers something they to tell you what they want when competitive market of the 21st
didn’t realize they wanted, though they’ve never seen anything century is asking customers the
the need for it was there. Apple’s remotely like it.” right questions; the most important
iPad is an example of how forward Steve Jobs instinctively ones being what problems and
thinking about what customers understood what the consumer issues they are dealing with. But
lives could be like can lead to wanted because he had the same he says that a business must make
market success. problem: the lack of a well-designed, a creative leap to figure out the
portable device that would make innovations that will serve those
Innovative solutions communication and information- customer needs, if they want to
When the iPad was unveiled in gathering fun and easy. survive in the market place. ■
2010, investors and the press were
sceptical, wondering who would
want one, given that a laptop
computer had more functions and
was only slightly bigger. The iPad
was a sellout because customers
loved using it—it was fun and fast,
and allowed them to do all the
things they enjoyed on their iPod
touch but with a bigger screen and
a keyboard that was easier to use.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs claimed
in an interview with Fortune
magazine never to have done
consumer research. “It isn’t the
consumer’s job to know what they
want,” he reportedly said. “That

Steve Jobs of Apple encouraged the
company to consider the changing
technological world and people’s existing
daily habits to provide an innovative
solution to an unfelt need: the iPad.