Apple: Search Not Important. The Mom Approach Is.
June 16, 2015
Imagine the difficulty of pitching a six figure information retrieval service today. On one hand, there are suitable open source alternatives for search. On the other hand, there are users who prefer to do the 7-11 thing; that is, find a convenient source of good enough stuff.
That’s the Apple approach, which in my opinion, denigrates the importance of proactive online information access. Take what’s provided. Want a peach iced tea. The 7-11 has a lemon iced tea. Take what’s available. Good enough.
Navigate to “Apple News Curation Will Have Human Editors and That Will Raise Important Questions.” I am not too concerned about publishers. That crowd lost my interest decades ago. What does interest me is that the article does not put the notion of humans making choices in the context of customers just accepting what an Apple, Facebook, or Google provides.
I did highlight this passage:
Curating lists of apps is one thing, but having Apple employees curate the news flow could be more controversial depending on how the company ultimately works with select publishers and surfaces content from its preferred sources.
But associating the loss of interest in or the ability to look for information, figure out what is accurate or more nearly accurate, is not associated with the research function. Search vendors take another whack on the snoot.
It is tough to sell search when the customers prefer to drop by a convenience store and let that experience dictate the set of things from which one chooses.
Stephen E Arnold, June 16, 2015
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