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Imagine if every product was this personal

August 29th, 2008 Posted in Business Strategy

iphone.png

For years, comedians have made jokes about the “Inspector #34″ stickers, tags, and inserts we find in the products we buy. Most of these jokes were focused on the anonymity of said inspector.

Since I was a kid, I wondered who these inspectors were. What did they do? Were there more than one person filling the role of #13 or did each inspector have their own unique number and stickers? Were inspector number retired when an inspector would leave the company? If my product was broken, should I reference the fact that #13 was falling down on the job?

So I was a bit of a nerdy kid.

When I came across the recent Gizmodo story, “New iPhone Comes Loaded with Photos of the Girl Who Made It”, the gears in my head started spinning. Can you imagine if your iPhone or laptop or hard drive came with photos of the team who worked on it? It would probably make you feel a bit better about problems you might have, and certainly would make you feel more interested in buying more products from that company.

After all, it’s not #13, it’s the Asian girl in the funny pink hat.

UPDATE: Reuters picks up this story.

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 9:11 am and is filed under Business Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
  • http://picomatrix.net Jay Rollins

    Then we can start asking for background checks, resumes and qualification descriptions of the folks who made the products we buy. Quality moves into the hands of the consumer. Hmmmmm…

  • http://www.communityguy.com Jake McKee

    Not sure I follow – are you saying that in order to actually make something like that work, we'd also have to do background checks on them?

    If so, you're supporting my point at the end of the post above …. :)

  • http://picomatrix.net Jay Rollins

    No. I was just saying after pictures, more detailed information on the folks that built my iPhone would be the next natural evolution. Billy Bob built my last iPhone and I didn't have any problems with it. I'll look for a 3G that he built. Billy Bob becomes a sub-brand.

  • http://www.communityguy.com Jake McKee

    Ah! Yes, gotcha.

    Actually, I love that idea, as long as it stays honest. (Meaning that there isn't a “Billy Bob Inspector #23″ real person just rubber stamping his name) Why not? If he's making such fantastic products that people seek him out, he should be rewarded for his quality. It would be tricky to balance the brand staying more in focus than the sub-brand, certainly, but you could do it. Lionel at Dell is more “Dell” than the brand “Dell” to me, but that doesn't stop me from working with/buying from Dell. (Actually Apple does that, but you get my point! :) )

  • http://www.communityguy.com Jake McKee

    Not sure I follow – are you saying that in order to actually make something like that work, we'd also have to do background checks on them?

    If so, you're supporting my point at the end of the post above …. :)

  • http://picomatrix.net Jay Rollins

    No. I was just saying after pictures, more detailed information on the folks that built my iPhone would be the next natural evolution. Billy Bob built my last iPhone and I didn't have any problems with it. I'll look for a 3G that he built. Billy Bob becomes a sub-brand.

  • http://www.communityguy.com Jake McKee

    Ah! Yes, gotcha.

    Actually, I love that idea, as long as it stays honest. (Meaning that there isn't a “Billy Bob Inspector #23″ real person just rubber stamping his name) Why not? If he's making such fantastic products that people seek him out, he should be rewarded for his quality. It would be tricky to balance the brand staying more in focus than the sub-brand, certainly, but you could do it. Lionel at Dell is more “Dell” than the brand “Dell” to me, but that doesn't stop me from working with/buying from Dell. (Actually Apple does that, but you get my point! :) )