While reading up about market research, I stumbled upon a blog article by Jessica Vascellaro of the Wallstreet Journal concerning Apple and its stance on market research. A few years ago, former head of Apple, Steve Jobs, was famously quoted:

We do no market research. We don’t hire consultants…

But recently, during the ongoing Apple vs. Samsung patent lawsuit, a document titled “Apple Market Research & Analysis, May 2011” was discovered. It seems as if the circulating story about Apple not doing market research is just a myth after all.

Steve Jobs must have either hated conducting market research, which is why he never admitted to it, or Apple felt it was necessary to keep its details a hidden secret. The latter makes more sense to me. Each company will probably have differing views about the appropriateness and the extent of market research, but in the end, results could be very valuable. Even companies who are against it could benefit from asking consumers the right questions. The fact that one of the most successful companies, Apple, does indeed carry out market research should be an indicator on how vital the tool really is.

Link to blog: here