I have seen this bit pop up in numerous pieces on the passing of Apple’s Steve Jobs. This version is from the New York Times:
Mr. Jobs’s own research and intuition, not focus groups, were his guide. When asked what market research went into the iPad, Mr. Jobs replied: “None. It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want.”
Also note this from the Wall Street Journal:
Despite skepticism about Apple’s ability to enter an already competitive market dominated by the likes of Research in Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry devices, Apple became a force in the mobile phone market, selling 92 million iPhones as of December 2010.
In the both cases, Jobs focused on producing and supplying innovative new consumer technology to the marketplace, creating demand for them. If you build it, they will come—and spend. To quote the book, “Where Keynes Went Wrong”:
In the circular flow of production and spending, it is production that has the pride of place. If we are shipwrecked on a deserted island, having money to spend will not help at all. If we do not produce, we will starve. Even back in civilization, it is producers who have a chance to grow rich. Spenders more often than not end up poor. It is production that determines how much can afford to spend, not the reverse.
That is what America needs: more producers, more employers, more makers.
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