Cult of Mac Invades BusinessWeek Innovation Blog

Apple owns the discourse around design and innovation these days. Everyone wants to be like Steve Jobs, and everyone wants to invent the new iPod. People also want to be Google, but being Google seems to be a lot harder, and the founders aren't terribly charismatic, so Apple gets a lot more attention regardless.

As a result, and because of the world I live in at my day job, I get into a lot of discussions about the role of design strategy and the value of innovation. Specifically, that understanding what people really need is the best way to create new products, services and businesses that will really connect with people.

All of which is a preface to encourage you to check out a comment of mine that BusinessWeek Innovation honcho Bruce Nussbaum highlighted into a blog post over there. It was at the end of a business day, so I think I might sound a little more snarky than I meant to:

YouTube's actual future is far from certain, and Second Life willsurely be passed by another player, as it superceded The Sims, whichsuperceded a lot of MUDDs and the like. Bill Moggridge even asked,
"What is the YouTube of design?"

And I have to say, I don't particularly care. YouTube, Second Life,
Flickr, Vlogs, blogs, they're all different solutions trying to meetsome very core needs of people, whether they know it or not. And needsoutlast solutions. I won't perform a straight-up needs analysis onthese sites, but they definitely come from wanting to express oneselfcreatively, connect with other people, feel famous or even lead adifferent life, as in the case of Lonely Girl 15 and some others.

By the time we start analyzing a solution, the next way to meet theneeds it addresses is already underway. We're going to miss the mostimportant opportunities unless we see beyond the fun and excitingsolution we hold in our hands.

Check it out.