The Jobs way

The Jobs way

Posted on 12 October 2011 - 04:39am

Oon Yeoh

MUCH has been written about Apple founder, Steve Jobs, who died last week. By now, you would have read countless articles paying tribute to his ingenuity, his sense of taste and his ability to radiate a "reality distortion field" to mesmerise his audience.

You probably know about his fiery temper and what a tyrant he could be in the office. You might even have heard about the daughter he had out of wedlock and how he refused to acknowledge her for several years.

Jobs was brilliant but he wasn't necessarily a nice guy. So while I do admire him, I don't do so unreservedly. That said, you don't have to like someone to like their work. There are many musicians whose songs I enjoy but whose personal lives leave a lot to be desired.

And so it is with Jobs, whose approach to product development I admire. He didn't care for focus groups or consumer market research, believing that when it comes to new products, consumers don't know what they want.

If you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. If something is new or revolutionary, how can consumers possibly know whether they'd like it or not.
I can just imagine a focus group's reaction to Twitter. "A microblog that allows only 140 characters per posting? What use is that?" would probably be the response.

Yet, many companies swear by focus groups and consumer market research. A friend cynically suggests that focus groups are for those who don't want to be blamed for making wrong decisions. Perhaps there's some truth in that. And perhaps that is why so few companies are innovative.

I'd like to tell you about two young guys who are doing business with their gut instincts. Both are involved in iPhone app development. One has already had some success while the other is working towards that.

Lim Kian Cheong was working for a telco when Apple's App Store was launched in 2008. Sensing an opportunity to sell to the world, Lim started developing his own apps and launched a couple of them that sold moderately.
He didn't commission any focus groups or have any consumer market research done before creating his apps. He wouldn't have been able to afford to anyway. He just built what he thought would sell.

Lim's break came in late 2009 when he released iType2Go, an app that lets you see what's in front of you as you type and walk. How iType2Go works is, it puts the phone's camera view directly behind the message that you are composing, thus allowing you to avoid bumping into obstacles ahead.

That app caught the attention of New York Times popular tech columnist, David Pogue, who was sufficiently impressed to tweet about it at year's end. Sales spiked immediately. Then, Pogue listed it in his annual "Pogie Awards for the Year's Best Tech Ideas" for 2009. Sales went through the roof. Lim quit his job and has been building apps ever since.

Ivan Lim used to work for a big multinational corporation, and left to join a start up web development company before teaming up with a few friends to form Frozen Lizard Studios, a games development company. All of them are living off their savings; so needless to say, they are doing this without any focus groups or consumer market research. They are going with what they believe the consumer will want.

Their first game, "Run, Ran, Run", features a giant monster rampaging through the city chasing after the heroine, Ran-chan. The objective is to help Ran-chan dodge attacks, collect power-ups and fight back. As you progress through 30 levels, you unlock pieces of the story. It will be priced at US$0.99 (RM3.14) and is currently under review for sale on Apple's App Store (approval is expected within a week).

I'm not a games person myself, so it's hard to predict whether their game will be a hit. I'm just very inspired to see people like these two Lims (unrelated) pursuing their dreams the Steve Jobs way.

Oon Yeoh is a new media consultant. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com