After we discussed the values of market research in class, I was curious to see how companies could use these strategies in the real world. I stumbled upon Bokardo: the blog of Joshua Porter, a self-procliamed specialist in interface design, and social interaction. His blog has been running for around six years and I came across his post on why Apple doesn’t do market research. Now when I see that arguably one of the most influential companies in the world doesn’t conduct any form of market research, it makes me question its relevance. To quote Steve Jobs directly from the blog post he once said,

                   “We figure out what we [Apple] 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.”

Apple has the philosophy of focusing on innovation first and letting the business follow. This leads me to believe that market research doesn’t have to be a common thread amongst all organizations in every industry: it is very much dependant on the niche of the company. Perhaps it can be useful in a recession, or when testing a product prototype: either way Market research has its place in certain industries, and is irrelevant in others.