
Nest and the Apple-ification of everything - raghus
http://gigaom.com/2011/11/10/nest-roadmap-2011/
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unalone
One important bullet point this article left out:

* Identify a significant social problem, and endeavour to solve it through innovation.

Nest has a big page on its site (<http://www.nest.com/why-we-made-
it/index.html>) explaining how much energy is wasted by thermostats every
year. This has an impact both on personal finances and on the environment.
Nest isn't succeeding just because it's well-designed; it solves a problem
both for individuals and for larger society.

Apple's known for its talk about the intersection of technology and the
liberal arts. Steve Jobs was always the most excited when discussing what his
technology would let people _do_ that they couldn't do before. Both Jobs and
Tony Fadell at Nest aimed higher than just making an attractive product/making
a good profit. They made sure that the products they made were going to do
something useful for the people who bought them, and possibly for greater
society as well.

If we're going to learn from Apple, I think it's essential we learn that
innovation isn't just about getting a product to do something it hasn't done
before. It's also about figuring out which products might significantly impact
society if they were done differently – both because it's a nobler aim and
because if you figure out how to change the world, come on, your marketing
basically writes itself.

