Many companies conduct product management without product planning. They copy a product which is originally designed by other companies, and modify it. They strive to survey technology/market trends and roadmaps from leading companies/giant research firms. And they enhance the variety of functions and/or the numbers to make their spec table better. They love to swim in the ‘red ocean’. Apple is one of the companies which is carrying out product planning as well as product management. It often enters the market very late, but re-creates the market itself. Apple strives to understand what the user-experiences the customer looks for, values, and needs, and re-invents the product category to make customers’ lifestyle better. Apple loves to make her heart sing with her product.

1. - Version 1.0 -
re-­‐think:
Product
Planning
~
Why
Apple
can
create
blockbusters?
~
Chikafuji,
Ryu

2. For
persons
who
are
interested
in
consumer
products,
services,
and
markets.
–
Aug/25/2011
(last
revised
on
Dec/18/2013)

3. chapter
1
tempta5on

4. There
is
nothing
more
important
task
than
to
find
out:
“what user-experiences the customer looks for,
values, and needs”.
Everyone
knows
this,
but
this
isn’t
easy
task.

5. Instead,
many
companies
give
an
ear
to
the
industry’s
influencers,
and
oversee
compeItors,
apart
from
their
target
customers.
A
Company
(a
consumer
products
company)
Target
Customers
Influencers
(big
research
firms,
oligopoly
firms)

6. Instead,
many
companies
give
an
ear
to
the
industry’s
influencers,
and
oversee
compeItors,
apart
from
their
target
customers.
A
Company
(a
consumer
products
company)
CompeItors
Target
Customers

7. Curious
to
say,
influencers
provide
the
vision
of
the
newly
defined
product
category
for
their
customers,
the
consumer
products
companies.
(*) examples of influencers

8. Actually,
many
influencers
have
global
markeIng
plaLorms
to
survey
their
customers’
potenIal
market.

9. Problem
is
that
the
influencers’
happiness
doesn’t
correspond
the
companies’
happiness.

10. Everybody Netbook!
(with Wintel !!!)
The
influencers’
happiness
is
to
spur
an
intense
compeIIon
in
their
customers’
market
because
such
compeIIon
brings
them
huge
revenue.

11. The
influencers
elegantly
lead
their
customers
into
a
intense
compeIIon.

12. The
compeIIon
makes
the
influencers’
hearts
sing,
while
the
companies’
hearts
be
exhausted.

13. It’s
Ime
to
re-­‐think.

14. chapter
2
re-­‐think

15. Many
companies
start
from
products.
They
improve
exisIng
products
and
make
the
spec
table
beRer
one.
New segment
Existing market
Existing market
Sometimes they create a new segment.

16. Fewer
companies
start
from
people.
They
innovate
new
user
experiences
and
make
the
people’s
life
beRer
one.
Existing market
Existing market
Sometimes they create a new market.
New market

17. My
focus
here
is
clearly
on
the
laRer
case,
“start
from
people”
*Lots of theories, practices, consulting services are available for the former case, such as
theory of competition, product management practices, social media marketing, etc.

18. True
markeIng
says,
“These are the user-experiences
the customer looks for, values, and needs.”
True marketing says, “These are satisfactions the customer looks for, values, and needs.”
– Peter. F. Drucker

19. To
find
out
”the user-experiences” is
the
starIng
line
for
new
product
planning,
however,

20. You can’t go out and ask people, you know,
what the next big thing.
– Steve Jobs
“Steve Jobs speaks out”, CNN Money, Aug/03/2008

21. [This
product
is
“Innova5ve”]
means
that
the
product
brings
far
be;er
user-­‐experience
to
the
target
customers.

22. user-experience
New trajectory
Innovative Product
Discontinuity
Conventional Products
Conventional trajectory
(incremental improvement)
time
In
other
words,
there
must
be
discon5nuity
between
the
trajectory
of
convenIonal
products
and
an
innovaIve
product
in
terms
of
“user-­‐experience”.

23. What
ordinary
people
can
imagine
is
limited
to
incremental
improvement
of
exisIng
products,
their
imaginaIon
can’t
beyond
this
disconInuity.

24. If I had asked people what they wanted,
they would have said “faster horses”
– Henry Ford
Founder of the Ford Motor Company

25. (Around 2000,) We did market survey about the demand for
camera-phone, not once, four times. Every time the results
showed negative. However, nowadays, camera-phone
became standard.
– A comment from a marketing director
(Martin Cooper’s Keynote Speech at IEEE Wescon 2005)

26. 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.
– Steve Jobs
(*) From the context, “it” doesn’t mean prototype, “it” means finished
product such as shown at Apple’s conference.

27. It’s
us
who
have
to
answer
the
quesIon:
“what the next big thing”

28. Both Honda-san(*) and I had never started product
development from technological point of view.
The first and foremost priority was our goal
what product we really wanted to make.
– Masaru Ibuka, co-founder of Sony
Quoted from“The Soul of Monozukuri”
Masaru Ibuka,
photo from www.sony.net
(*) Soichiro Honda, founder of HONDA

29. The idea for the Walkman had come from Ibuka, who was
over 70 years old, and Morita(*), himself approaching 60
enthusiastically supported it.
Not content to rest on their laurels, both kept looking for new
ideas and strove to understand what kind of products would
meet the lifestyle needs of young people.
– Quoted from “Sony History”, www.sony.net
(*) Morita: Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony

30. "It was very nearly fetishistic, in fact – he even had a
collection of Sony letterhead and marketing materials,"
laughs Deutschman(*). "Sony was a company that Jobs
instinctively admired and saw as model from the very
beginning.”
By Jeff Yang,
"How Steve Jobs 'out-Japanned' Japan”, SF Gate
(*) Alan Deutschman, Author of "Walk the Walk", Professor at University Nevada-Reno.

31. Steve
Jobs
simply
described
Ibuka’s
way:

32. We figure out what we want. And I think we're pretty
good at having the right discipline to think through
whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too.
That's what we get paid to do.
– Steve Jobs
CNN Money, Aug/03/2008

33. Once
we
reach
a
strong
confidence
that
“a lot of other people are going to want it, too”,
then
most
barriers
which
prevent
us
from
innovaIon
are
removed.

34. You
may
have
heard
the
following
sentences.

35. “I
requested
engineering
team
to
implement
that
feature,
but
they
said
it
was
too
difficult
and
too
risky
to
do
it.
So,
we
had
to
abandon
it.
However,
our
compeMtor
could
do
it
and
we
are
in
for
it
now.
Stupid
engineering
team!”
Marketers

36. “I
asked
markeMng
guys
how
criMcal
to
implement
that
feature
for
our
business.
But
they
didn’t
show
any
compelling
explanaMons.
So,
we
had
to
make
it
lower-­‐
priority
task.
Otherwise,
we
could
do
it!
Our
markeMng
team
doesn’t
work
at
all”
Engineers

37. Before
iPhone,
most
manufacturers
believed
that
it
was
impossible
to
implement
full-­‐web
browser
on
mobile
handset.

38. But
just
less
than
one
year
a^er
iPhone,
many
manufacturers
released
mobile
handsets
with
full-­‐web
browser.

39. What
does
all
this
mean?

40. We
see
a
lot
of
similar
stories
in
our
history:
Transister
Radio,
Home
VTR,
Walkman,
Personal
Computer,
Megapixel
Digital
Camera,
Full-­‐flat
CRT,
Large
format
LCD,
Boradband,
Tablet
PC,
…
etc.

41. What
does
all
this
mean?

42. Barriers
against
an
innovaIon
are
not
so
high
if
we
share
a
strong
confidence
that
“a lot of other people are going to want it, too”.

43. This confidence fires up us to realize far better
user-experiences, innovative products,
no matter how high the barrier may be.

44. You
know,
potenIal
ability
of
engineering
is
much
higher
than
we
expect
and
engineers
can
be
more
flexible
if
they
share
the
confidence.

45. MarkeIng,
sales,
logisIcs,
legal,
producIon,
PR,
IP,
HR,
or
top
managements,
in
whatever
secIons,
persons
in
charge
can
be
more
passionate
and
creaIve
if
they
share
the
confidence.

46. The
missing
piece
for
innovaIon
is
the
strong
confidence
that
”a lot of other people are going to want it, too”.

47. The
key
to
get
strong
confidence
is
the
ability
to
understand
and
share
the
feelings
of
target
customers,
that
is,
“Empathy”.
empathy:
the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
(by Concise Oxford English Dictionary)

48. chapter
3
think
about

49. Keynote speech, Mar/2011, from Apple.com
It's in Apple's DNA. The technology alone is not enough. That
is technology married with the liberal arts, married with the
humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.
– Steve Jobs

50. This
sentence
explains
about
the
advantage
of
Apple’s
products,
but
it
doesn’t
explain
why
they
can
create
such
aRracIve
products.

51. The
quesIon
I’d
like
to
ask
here
is:
“How
to
create
such
a`racMve
products?”

52. The
answer
must
be
very
basic
and
obvious.

53. Apple
has
strong
confidence
that
she
gets
what
the
customers
want
to
buy.

54. Apple
is
always
striving
to
find
out:
“what user-experiences the customer
looks for, values, and needs”.

55. Apple
spends
enough
Ime
for
this
task.

56. So,
Apple
o^en
enters
the
market
very
late,
and
she
gorgeously
re-­‐defines
the
product
which
makes
customers’
hearts
sing
as
well
as
herself.
Category
Inception
Apple Product
Released
MP3 Player
1997
iPod
2001
MP3 Download(*)
1999
iTune Store
2003
Smart Phone
2001
iPhone
2007
Mobile App(**)
1999
App Store
2008
Netbook
2007
iPad
2010
Apple’s
blockbusters
(*) Napster, etc.
(**) NTT docomo, etc

57. The greatest praise an innovation can receive is
for people say,
"This is obvious. Why didn't I think of it?"
– Peter. F. Drucker

58. Looking
back
from
today:
The
demands
for
iPod
&
iTune
Store
was
obvious
around
1999.
The
demands
for
“Breakthrough
internet
communicator(*)”
was
obvious
around
2005.
The
demands
for
“big
iPhone”
was
obvious
around
2008.
(*)
Steve
Jobs’s
introducMon
words
about
iPhone

59. It
may
sound
paradoxical,
but
Steve
Jobs
says:
“We do no market research. We don’t hire consultants.”

60. MeanIme,
Apple
has
been
building
a
huge
plaLorm.

61. Apple Store, Photo by Camillo Miller, Flickr
Apple
Store
was
launched
on
May/2001,
5
months
before
the
first
iPod
would
be
released,
two
years
before
the
iTune
Store
would
be
launched.
(*)At
that
Ime,
Apple's
annual
revenue
was
only
$5.4
billion
and
loss
was
$25
million.
There
were
only
Notebook
and
Desktop
computers
in
the
Apple
Stores.

62. In
2011,
Apple
has
336
stores
in
11
naIons:
Switzerland:
3
Germany:
5
UK:
30
Canada:
20
China:
4
France:
7
Spain:
2
US:
240
Japan:
7
Italy:
6
Australia:
12

63. 5.8
millions
people
come
to
Apple
Stores
each
week
and
610,000
members
in
“one-­‐to-­‐one”
service.
(data
from
ifoAppleStore.com)
One-to-one service at Apple Store Photo by Phil Photostream, Flickr

64. Apple Store Photo by Camillo Miller, Flickr
Apple
has
about
50,000
employees
and
about
30,000
of
them
are
working
at
Apple
Stores
as
full-­‐Ime
employees.
60%
of
employees
are
there
sharing
their
vision
"Enrich
Lives".
(*)
Gateway,
now
a
subsidiary
of
Acer,
had
similar
retailing
strategy,
but
they
didn't
hire
their
own
people,
didn't
own
real
estate.
On
the
other
hand,
Apple
does.

65. The only way to enrich their life is to be part of their life.
– Ron Johnson
Senior Vice President of Retail, Apple

66. Apple
Store
became
the
most
powerful
“empathy”
plaLorm
on
the
planet.

67. chapter
4
Empathy

68. The business enterprise has two – and only these two –
basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and
innovation produce results; all the rest are “costs”
– Peter F. Drucker

69. Empathy: [em-puh-thee]
- the ability to understand and share the feelings of the
target customers; “the CORE” ability of Marketing
Empathy
MarkeIng

70. Empathy: [em-puh-thee]
- the ability to understand and share the feelings of the
target customers; “the Source” of Innovation
encourage
Motivation (act)
Passion (triumph)
Empathy
Innovation (produce)
Creativity (think)
inspire
Imagination (feel)
[ref]“Towards a Definition of Creativity“, Wisconsin Task Force on Arts and Creativity in Education

71. “Empathy”
is
the
very
core
ability
for
both
markeIng
and
innovaIon,
the
two
basic
funcIons
of
business
enterprise.

72. Some
companies
already
executed
drasIc
investment
for
the
Empathy
as
an
system.

73. Apple
has
been
building
huge
and
gorgeous
Empathy
plaLorm,
Apple
Store.

74. Samsung
has
“Regional
Specialist
Program”,
a
very
aggressive
Empathy
culIvaIon
program.
(*) see http://is.gd/Eu0Gfy
This is very old program, since 1990.

75. Dyson’s
engineers
home-­‐stayed
in
Japan
several
months
to
understand
and
share
the
people’s
lifestyle
before
designing
DC12.
Dyson’s vacuum cleaner DC12,
a strategic product for Japan market

76. However,
to
build
the
Empathy
as
an
effecIve
system
is
not
easy,
especially,
in
this
profound
changing
age.

77. Life Style
Connected Society
Declining Birth Rate
and Aging Population
Sustainable Society
Diversity & Inclusion
Later Marriage
…

78. Global
Economy
Share
of
Global
GDP
Ø USA:
31%(2000)
-­‐-­‐-­‐>
18%(2015)(*1)
Ø BRICS:
8%(2000)
-­‐-­‐-­‐>
23%(2015)
-­‐-­‐-­‐>
31%(2020)(*2)
Share
of
Global
Cell-­‐Phone
Market(*3)
Ø USA
market:
50%
(1998)
-­‐-­‐-­‐>
12%
(2015)
Ø Asia
market:
19%
(1998)
-­‐-­‐-­‐>
50%
(2015)
E7
will
beyond
G7
in
2020
in
terms
of
GDP(*4)
(*1) IMF
(*2) BRICS Summit
(*3) Softbank
(*4) PWC

79. Lifestyle
changes
day-­‐to-­‐day,
market
changes
globally.

80. Once
again,
“Empathy”
is
the
very
core
ability
for
business.

81. Are
you
being
inspired
through
target
customers?

82. Are
you
culIvaIng
your
passion
through
target
customers?

83. Are
you
and
your
company
ready
for
the
next
decade?

84. visit: tansalink.com
An answer will be shared here in version 1.0
…
to
be
posted.