Tim Cook says Apple now factors Chinese tastes when designing products

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  • Reply 21 of 62
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     

    Why don't we have a ChiCom red yet? <img class=" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />

     

    But seriously, they can even say it's (Product) RED.


     

     

    Because most people aren't dumb fucks who listen to and use Rush Limbaugh vocabulary words.

     

    Ayn Rand Akbar!

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  • Reply 22 of 62
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    This is iPod news. Apple has always been inspired by Chinese tastes.
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  • Reply 23 of 62
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,723member
    As China is becoming Apple's biggest customer base, it's only logical that Apple should move to their preferences. And it's not as though we will stop buying the products because of it. I'm surprised at how many gold tone phones I see here. And let's not forget, that gold is a very popular color for cars here as well.

    And then there is India gold is more important there and in China. Even the poorest people have a small piece of gold jewelry. And Apple stated that their goal is to double sales in India every year. I suppose that means for just a few years, but they are expanding their sales outlets there at a furious pace.

    In China, they now have 21 stores, and plan to double that by mid 2016. I imagine that they will continue to have major increases in stores over a period of years.

    Apple is now one of the most trusted, and desired brands, within China, with even high government officials asking Apple to make it easier for their people to buy Apple products, and for Apple to invest even more in China. How many foreign brands do we hear that about in China?
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  • Reply 24 of 62
    SpamSandwichspamsandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Why don't we have a ChiCom red yet? :lol:

    But seriously, they can even say it's (Product) RED.

    They could rename it (PRC) RED.
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  • Reply 25 of 62
    SpamSandwichspamsandwich Posts: 33,407member

    It's all about the $$$ (don't have a yuan symbol).

    It's all about the renminbi.
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  • Reply 26 of 62
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member

    Because most people aren't dumb fucks who listen to and use Rush Limbaugh vocabulary words.

    Ayn Rand Akbar!

    To be fair, we have to allow for the quarter-century lag in perception that afflicts conservative viewpoints. For example, it was around 1990 that Deng Xiaoping was ditching the old Red Star regalia ("ChiCom Red") in favor of "modernization" of China. But history is like science: annoying detail in the way of ideology.
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  • Reply 27 of 62
    konqerrorkonqerror Posts: 685member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Flaneur View Post





    Very doubtful. The 5C was based on an understanding of the world youth market. Seems to have worked well enough.



    Kids want a phone. The Chinese who can afford iPhones wouldn't be caught dead with a brightly colored model that screams "I can't afford the regular version". The practice of selling last year's model which, unless you're looking carefully, looks like this year's model is what the image-conscious market wants.

     

    This is what the white New York City analysts, and all the marketing types in California all missed. If they're listening to the Chinese market, then the special economy models are dead.

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  • Reply 28 of 62
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    While this might be true did Tim Cook really need to publicly admit that Apple panders to China in some of its product design decisions? Also I followed Twitter and Instagram after the March keynote and there were a lot of people drooling over the gold MacBook and none of them were Chinese. So I think it's a misnomer to suggest these gold products only appeal to Asians. It's simply not true. Personally I think the champagne gold MacBook is one of the most stunning products Apple has ever designed.
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  • Reply 29 of 62
    That fine, as long as the Chinese want what Americans want from Apple.
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  • Reply 30 of 62
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    rogifan wrote: »
    While this might be true did Tim Cook really need to publicly admit that Apple panders to China in some of its product design decisions? Also I followed Twitter and Instagram after the March keynote and there were a lot of people drooling over the gold MacBook and none of them were Chinese. So I think it's a misnomer to suggest these gold products only appeal to Asians. It's simply not true. Personally I think the champagne gold MacBook is one of the most stunning products Apple has ever designed.

    "Panders"? The mini-quandary referred to in your post can be solved if you consider that Chinese tastes in objects like phones and computers can be world-class, and of great appeal to non-Chinese markets.
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  • Reply 31 of 62
    9secondko9secondko Posts: 929member
    Come on Tim.

    Apple didn't design great things by factoring in others tastes.

    They did it be having GOOD taste.

    China isn't known for that.

    And the reason the Chinese as well as everyone else likes Apple design is that they were shown what good design actually is!

    Don't factor in anything. Just make great designs.

    And please.... Don't ever put chrome on my phone tablet or phone.

    It's ok on the watch. But that's it.
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  • Reply 32 of 62
    SpamSandwichspamsandwich Posts: 33,407member
    flaneur wrote: »
    "Panders"? The mini-quandary referred to in your post can be solved if you consider that Chinese tastes in objects like phones and computers can be world-class, and of great appeal to non-Chinese markets.

    Chinese tastes have typically floated somewhere between "garish" and "revolting", however with their increased exposure to the world I've seen a rapid evolution and adoption of much more sophisticated fashion and styles. There is still plenty of trash, but it's gotten better.
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  • Reply 33 of 62
    inklinginkling Posts: 784member
    Quote: It's not about pop culture, and it's not about fooling people, and it's not about convincing people that they want something they don't. We figure out what we 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. So you can't go out and ask people, you know, what's the next big [thing.] There's a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, "If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me "A faster horse."" --Steve jobs

    Jobs seems to be showing his ignorance as well as that of Henry Ford. Quite a few people wanted to get something%u2014anything%u2014to replace the messy, hard to maintain, temperamental, short-lived horse. They didn't want "a faster horse." They wanted something mechanical. That's why trains quickly replace stage coaches. It's why there were trollies and the London Underground. It's why there was a brief time when the middle-class, middle-aged rode bicycles before replacing them with cars. They were more than happy to see the horse, fast or slow, go away.

    Ford and Jobs were both elitists. They thought the masses were stupid, not understanding what they wanted and needing to be guided by their betters. That's Jobs' silly chatter about "the crazy ones."

    That's why Ford Motor almost went bankrupt. Old Henry thought he knew what they wanted and it was black Model T's and Model A's. Jobs made similar blunders, failing to recognized that most people bought what served them best, which for a long, long time was a DOS/Windows PC. Those cute little Mac classic were too expensive and short on features.
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  • Reply 34 of 62
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    9secondko wrote: »
    Come on Tim.

    Apple didn't design great things by factoring in others tastes.

    They did it be having GOOD taste.

    China isn't known for that.

    And the reason the Chinese as well as everyone else likes Apple design is that they were shown what good design actually is!

    Don't factor in anything. Just make great designs.

    And please.... Don't ever put chrome on my phone tablet or phone.

    It's ok on the watch. But that's it.

    "China isn't known for [good taste]." Neither is, or was, America.

    On the other hand, there's a tradition of attention to detail in Chinese art that goes back thousands of years. Some of it is quite tasty.

    I don't recall any chrome on any Apple watch. Polished stainless maybe?
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  • Reply 35 of 62
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,723member
    9secondko wrote: »
    Come on Tim.

    Apple didn't design great things by factoring in others tastes.

    They did it be having GOOD taste.

    China isn't known for that.

    And the reason the Chinese as well as everyone else likes Apple design is that they were shown what good design actually is!

    Don't factor in anything. Just make great designs.

    And please.... Don't ever put chrome on my phone tablet or phone.

    It's ok on the watch. But that's it.

    I would have to say that you're wrong about that. When the USA was Apple's main market, then they "pandered" to our tastes. But the markets are changing. China is now their number two market, and will be number one in a year or two.

    And to say that Apple's phones no longer look good because of this, is ridiculous. Our tastes aren't all that different. It's subtle. And I see a lot of gold phones around, and I did in the UK, as well, when I was there last.

    As far as the UI goes, everyone is flattening. I believe that Apple has done a better job than anyone else. Sure, some will not like it, but most people do, and these are reasons why Apple sales keep going up.

    The Chinese also like bigger phones, are you against that because it's what they like—too. Yeah, we do also. Maybe they're just ahead of us in these ways.

    The Chinese like to think of themselves as modern, and forwards looking—just like Apple, and it's one reason Apple has become so popular there.
    Please don't justify your own prejudices about what's right and wrong with all of this.
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  • Reply 36 of 62
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,723member
    inkling wrote: »
    Quote: It's not about pop culture, and it's not about fooling people, and it's not about convincing people that they want something they don't. We figure out what we 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. So you can't go out and ask people, you know, what's the next big [thing.] There's a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, "If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me "A faster horse."" --Steve jobs

    Jobs seems to be showing his ignorance as well as that of Henry Ford. Quite a few people wanted to get something%u2014anything%u2014to replace the messy, hard to maintain, temperamental, short-lived horse. They didn't want "a faster horse." They wanted something mechanical. That's why trains quickly replace stage coaches. It's why there were trollies and the London Underground. It's why there was a brief time when the middle-class, middle-aged rode bicycles before replacing them with cars. They were more than happy to see the horse, fast or slow, go away.

    Ford and Jobs were both elitists. They thought the masses were stupid, not understanding what they wanted and needing to be guided by their betters. That's Jobs' silly chatter about "the crazy ones."

    That's why Ford Motor almost went bankrupt. Old Henry thought he knew what they wanted and it was black Model T's and Model A's. Jobs made similar blunders, failing to recognized that most people bought what served them best, which for a long, long time was a DOS/Windows PC. Those cute little Mac classic were too expensive and short on features.

    Wow! It's almost as though you live in a different world from the rest of us! Perhaps where you live, things took a different turn since the mid century?
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  • Reply 37 of 62
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    Chinese tastes have typically floated somewhere between "garish" and "revolting", however with their increased exposure to the world I've seen a rapid evolution and adoption of much more sophisticated fashion and styles. There is still plenty of trash, but it's gotten better.

    China is the birthplace of Zen, and Taoist art besides.

    In the 19th century, American industrial design was already known for exactly the two adjectives you use. Remember tail fins in the 50s, potato cars in the late 40s. It's lasted to the present. Have you checked out Escalades lately?
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  • Reply 38 of 62
    rebe1rebe1 Posts: 30member

    Stereotype much, people?

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  • Reply 39 of 62
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,759member
    flaneur wrote: »
    China is the birthplace of Zen, and Taoist art besides.

    In the 19th century, American industrial design was already known for exactly the two adjectives you use. Remember tail fins in the 50s, potato cars in the late 40s. It's lasted to the present. Have you checked out Escalades lately?

    Zen was (is) a form of dhyana (meditation-centric) Buddhism imported to China from India. Buddhism existed in China long before Zen was brought there. It's not a practice inidigenous to China. But it fit nicely because of syncretism with Taoist traditions.

    I know what you mean to say, I'm just being picky. ;)
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  • Reply 40 of 62
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by WardC View Post

    What happened to the 17" MacBook Pro or the TANK Mac Pro?

     


     

    My primary concern right now is that the GTX 970 will be the last graphics card that will ever be compatible with my Mac Pro (meaning OS X drivers). I’m astonished that nVidia did that in the first place.

     

    I really want an Radeon 390 (8 gigs of vRAM!), but since they never even wrote drivers for the 290, I’m not going to hold my breath.

     

    Originally Posted by rebe1 View Post

    Stereotype much, people?



    So what?

     

    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

    Thinner is important.

    Portable is important.




    And yet they made the 6+.

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