Apple's Hidden Genius

James Duncan Davidson on support at the Apple Store:

...one of the secrets of Apple's product design in the last decade has been the use of the data that these stores generate…'s the data that's generated at the Genius bar that fascinates me. This data, in aggregate, can tell Apple a lot about what machines break, how they break, and after how long in a much more direct way than what would come out of a third party service center.

While it’s speculation, it’s reassuring to think that much of Apple’s product polish comes from a close connection to customers and not just the vision of Steve Jobs/Jonathan Ive.

At Scout, we care a lot about this connection. However, most customers don’t provide feedback. To combat this, I’ll review the activity of our new customers each week. I’ll email them if I see a problem and make a note of any issues. Over time, taking care of these unreported issues adds up to a polished Scout experience.