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“We want to be like Apple!” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this from teams innovating new products. What they mean is they want their new products to be sleek, attractive, and easy to use – something that does not come easy to most med device manufacturers. The aspiration is good and noble. If fulfilled, the company is providing customers with things they want and love, improving healthcare, and making money. However, Don Norman, my mentor, friend and former VP at Apple, makes a strong case for not emulating Apple any more, because at Apple, beauty is coming at the expense of function: For the med device industry, the challenges are even greater because of the inherent complexity of most medical devices. In fact, many companies over-engineer devices with far more capabilities than customers want or need. We hear from clinicians and the C-suite time and time again that they’ll choose the workhorse machine that’s easy to use and provides the most needed functionality, over the uber-sophisticated, feature-laden device that can do more but is harder to use. If, on top of providing too many features, designers, engineers, and product managers prioritize aesthetics and the “cool” factor over discoverability and ease of use, then clinicians and executives get even more turned off. On the other hand, when the team puts the customer first and only provides features that solve meaningful problems customers care about, and makes them attractive and easy to use within the fast-paced clinical workflow, then they’re on the way to a winner. So be like Apple was, when they practiced good design principles and made beautiful devices that were easy to use and love. And keep customers first! source: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/78665/78665-6054306760783650819 Marked as spam
 Posted by Asked on September 28, 2015 12:00 am
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I think they might mean that they want to have an incredibly happy and loyal customer base. Or maybe they want to continue double digit growth even in sectors that are shrinking for all other players. Maybe they want to be the most successful company in history or sell 13 million units of of a 13th generation product. I think more likely, they want to create something new that changes an entire paradigm. But you could be correct in assuming they want to make flashy products that are difficult to use. Between the Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV complaints about difficulty of use, I don't know how they stay in business. Granted iTunes has become a pain as they direct people to Beats, but I must be out of the loop. Although I have never aspired to imitate Apple I respect them because I can't think of a single company that has done a better job of launching a simple elegant product to revolutionize an industry. Apple has done that to computers, phones, books, music, and movies. Therefore, I think the negativity of your post is misdirected.
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Plus, not every aspect of healthcare data can be 'open' dialogue due to reasonable & appropriate restrictions directed by HIPPA laws, insurance mandates, caregiver confidentiality requirements, widespread medical-legal issues, etc. In short, healthcare is not an open, unmonitored forum like Facebook.
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There is an even deeper theme to Apple's success than its exquisite design and human-factors engineering. It is even deeper than giving customers what they want. It is giving customers what they need - even when they dont yet know they need it!
Customers were not envisioning all the things that a portable phone could do - when Apple did. Now we take it as a given that it should provide an endless variety of specialized computer functions through these things called apps, that we install painlessly, knowing nothing about code, and paying even less - and then taking pictures and movies with camera quality obviating the need to carry a separate device in our pocket or purse. Lee Iaccoca inspired Chrysler to make the minivan before we asked for it. And now it is "essential" to families with children. So that is what the best medical instrumentation should be -- serving a function that is valuable, before the clinician even envisioned such a value. Take that from Apple. Marked as spam
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Moshe Engelberg
AARON- To your point, we've seen device companies that bring highly sophisticated and unfortunately harder to learn/use to market only to find most customers prefer the simple "workhorse" devices with 80% of the functionality.
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Moshe Engelberg
RON: I appreciate your point about identifying what clinicians need before they articulate that need. To me, that comes from really being tuned in to what problems they have and how they want things to be, vs. being prematurely focused on solutions.
That's where the right kind of customer research comes into play. More here FYI: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/biggest-mistake-most-med-device-life-science-customer-moshe-engelberg?trk=mp-author-card The other ingredient of course was Steve Job's unique prescience. Marked as spam
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Moshe Engelberg
GREG: Agreed. The aspiration to revolutionize industries and achieve what Apple has achieved is good and noble. My aim was not a wholesale criticism of Apple, but to point out that now it seems Apple is going down the slippery slope of sacrificing functionality in favor of beautiful design- that's what healthcare should not emulate in my opinion.
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I have heard the sentiment as well from many different clients who have a hard time articulating what it is about Apple they want or want to be. I can sum up the 'desire' as the following;
* a product that is designed as an experience. The box, the IFU, the product itself, the software, the support, etc. Everything is thought through and tied tightly together to make an entire product and customer experience. This is Apple's 'secret sauce' in my mind, * Creating a desirable product. The products look, feel and function like few others. 'They just work' is what we have heard, and come to expect from Apple. Some things have migrated a little and they have some mis-steps, but that is a core mantra at Apple and customers come to expect and desire that * By doing the above, they create product and brand loyalty. Because the product is designed as an experience, and is very well engineered, durable, usable, etc. they have created a very loyal fan base that will pay more for a product that is so thoughtfully birthed into the market. Don't get me wrong - there are many other products that have created product/brand loyalty (look to cars) but Apple has had this as a core need of their brand for decades. It's understandable why clients want to 'be like Apple' or have their products 'be like Apple' - you just have to think about it in experience, business, brand and loyalty terms, and not just make aluminum surfaces that are white/black and all have 1 button. Don't be literal - be aspirational and deliver on the promise of the brand and the entire experience. Marked as spam
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Moshe Engelberg
DAVID: I appreciate your take on desire to be like Apple - and your bottom line - to be aspirational, not literal, in their emulation.
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