Comments on: Why Apple Should Follow Michelin

By: 80?‹電視尺孿

80?‹電視尺孿 — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:02:24 +0000

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By: Sven

Sven — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 02:26:04 +0000

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By: Advertising’s New Hope « brandpost's blog

Advertising’s New Hope « brandpost's blog — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:01:58 +0000

[...] This dissociation between brand and content is essential. An historical French brand has been rightly celebrated for being the first to do brand content decades before the term was coined: Michelin with its eponymous guides provided a genuine service without promoting its tires (read Jean-Louis’ Monday Note Why Apple Should Follow Michelin.) [...]

By: viaziz

viaziz — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:40:08 +0000

Usually I don’t read post on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very compelled me to try and do it! Your writing taste has been surprised me. Thank you, very great article.

By: addicted

addicted — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:30:05 +0000

@Walt French – While I don’t buy Peter’s HTML5 utopian vision yet (how many times have we heard this only to be disappointed?), I think mobile apps currently lack a very useful Web feature. Hyperlinking. If Apple were to build better capabilities for apps to link to content within other apps, I think the HTML5 vision might get completely subsumed by the App revolution.

By: addicted

addicted — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:26:46 +0000

A better solution for Apple might be to transparently pay a bunch of well known bloggers (e.g. John Gruber) in return for reviewing 5 apps a week.

They can do it a lot cheaper this way, and with far far more credibility. Additionally, you deflect a lot of developer criticism that the company may take on itself if it does the reviews themselves. Finally, it also allows multiple perspectives for the same app, so while 1 reviewer might hate an app, another might find a niche use for it which might make it tremendously useful to them.

By: Four Years of App Store: Developers Weigh In On Search, Discovery, and Curation | AVORAH - Geek Lifestyle Reviews And Views - TECH, GADGETS, STYLE.

Fri, 18 May 2012 16:14:46 +0000

[...] on the App Store isn’t new to developers and observers of Apple’s ecosystem. In January 2012, Jean-Louis Gassée noted how French tire manufacturer Michelin spun off an entire business to tourist guides and restaurant [...]

By: Colin Crawford

Colin Crawford — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:58:53 +0000

Apple’s purchase of Chomp for a rumored $50MM was slightly surprising http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/168559/apples-acquires-chomp.html given there are a lot of other app search and discovery environments that are more comprehensive and engage the audience more with lists, recommendations and relevant content. Let’s see if this results in a significantly improved experience.

By: Walt French

Walt French — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:40:47 +0000

@JLG: were you aware of the pending Chomp purchase? Who were the VCs who supposedly funded Chomp to the tune of a couple million?

I’ll keep rooting for Apple to do actual recommendations-based searching; this makes it sound more likely to be mechanical rather than a bunch of app nerds. But progress, nonetheless.

By: Twitter, Facebook and app scams | JoeGadget.net

Twitter, Facebook and app scams | JoeGadget.net — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:00:19 +0000

[...] way, is a push in favour of an Apple-curated guide described in the Monday Note by Jean-Louis (see “Why Apple should follow Michelin”). In the UK, several print publishers have detected the need for independent reviews; there, [...]

By: Twitter, Facebook and app scams: who cares about fake followers?” | Techno Magazine | Daily Technology News Magazine

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:08:43 +0000

By: The pathetic truth about fake friends and followers « Uncategorized « Jaz Media News

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:08:39 +0000

By: Twitter, Facebook and app scams: who cares about fake followers?" : MyTwitterFollowers.info – Tips and advice on Twitter! | Social Marketing | Twitter Followers |

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:01:54 +0000

By: Twitter, Facebook and Apps Scams | Monday Note

Twitter, Facebook and Apps Scams | Monday Note — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:32:32 +0000

[...] way, is a push in favor of an Apple-curated guide described in the Monday Note by Jean-Louis (see Why Apple Should Follow Michelin). In the UK, several print publishers have detected the need for independent reviews; there, [...]

By: The App Store, Michelin and curation | Warston

The App Store, Michelin and curation | Warston — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:01:36 +0000

[...] Gassée, former director of Apple’s French subsidiary and VP of research wrote a delightful piece where he gives advice to Apple, saying they should follow the Michelin model: [Michelin founders] [...]

By: Jean-Louis Gassée

Jean-Louis Gassée — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:58:37 +0000

@ Ryan Merket: Thanks, I went and visited appstores.com. Interesting proposition, I’ll be watching developments.

By: Ryan Merket

Ryan Merket — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:28:39 +0000

Jean-Louis, great post. I’m the CEO of Appstores.com. We believe that app discoverability is going to happen on the websites and properties that people visit everyday. We give publishers and thought leaders the tools to curate their own app galleries and experiences on their own properties.

We are firm believers that it’s not the platforms jobs to curate the best apps. At the end of the day their core business is in providing the platform, not knowing which apps are best for recipes, cycling, or music. There are already thought leaders in those spaces, so why not give them the tools to showcase apps that are highly relevant to their audiences?

Our publisher app galleries work both on desktop and mobile, and allow curators to choose from any of the +1M apps on iOS and Android.

By: russ stauffer

russ stauffer — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:30:34 +0000

This is one of those really great ideas that Apple will almost certainly bypass. Why? Because it does not ‘change the world’. (But, wow, this sort of thing would be my DREAM job!)

By: Jean-Louis Gassée

Jean-Louis Gassée — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:53:18 +0000

@ Dave Barnes: As you say in English: Touché!

By: Dave Barnes

Dave Barnes — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:36:08 +0000

Brilliant idea.
But, only if done in French.
I find the Guide Rouge to be a much better book than the Red Guide.

By: Jean-Louis Gassée

Jean-Louis Gassée — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:51:48 +0000

@ Cimarron Buser: As I wrote, no trouble. Glad to enjoy your insights based on your business experience.

By: Cimarron Buser

Cimarron Buser — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:55:46 +0000

@ Mike Meyer: Apple does provide an affiliate program (5% commission), blog and resource site for partners. They also have a Search API and and feed. The interface is straightforward JSON. See http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/faq.html for more information.

By: Mike Meyer

Mike Meyer — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:49:10 +0000

I’ve long thought that a great way to approach this problem of discoverability would be for Apple to officially publish the iTunes feed API so that people can create their own curated shops. For example, I might be interested in documentaries, AFI might do their own store of classic movies, someone might curate a collection of classic jazz, someone else might pull together the classic TV offerings on iTunes, or concentrate on Apps. One might even consolidate a store across their subject, like pulling all the country and western podcasts, albums, movies, and books together. Incentivize this via some sort of affiliate commission, and now you have destinations where people can find what they want and weigh in as a community.

By: Cimarron Buser

Cimarron Buser — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:55:06 +0000

Jean-Louis – Point taken, I was not trying to hide the affiliation. When the site asks for email and website I put them in and assumed that they would show in text. I will certainly be clearer in the future on the blog!

Best,

Cimarron Buser
VP Bus Dev
Apperian, Inc.

By: Jean-Louis Gassée

Jean-Louis Gassée — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:42:52 +0000

@ Cimarron Buser: Thanks, glad to hear about the rise of app-curation solutions.
This said, surprise, your handle, when clicked on lands me on http://www.apperian.com/company/. And I see you’re Apperian’s VP of Business Development, the company you cite as an example in your comment. No harm done, I just feel comments are stronger when the commenter’s affiliation is clear at the outset.

By: Neil

Neil — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:25:45 +0000

@J-LG: As I learned at a tender age from this little piece of doggerel,

The word “possesses”
possesses more esses
than any other word
in the English language.

Although I have not attempted to verify the claim…

By: Monday links: impermanent plans | Abnormal Returns

Monday links: impermanent plans | Abnormal Returns — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:06:56 +0000

[...] Apple ($AAPL) needs to provide users with more App Store info. (Money Note) [...]

By: Jean-Louis Gassée

Jean-Louis Gassée — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:13:53 +0000

@ Marius Coomans: Yes, Heaven help us if Apple and Google are the only arbiters of taste. There are, as noted in the piece, 116 sites trading in app reviews. Again, this is different fron book publishing: Apple has no real vested interest in one app selling more than another. Their concern is having good apps that move hardware.

By: Jean-Louis Gassée

Jean-Louis Gassée — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:09:41 +0000

@ Yann: Thanks for your comment re. FNAC, I’ve been a longtime customer, of course, and I even tried to buy the company in 1987. You’re roght, FNAC “stars” can’t really be trusted, they make _all_ their money selling the stuff they recommend and could be inclined to recommend a product that “all things being equal” more them more €€.
That’s not the case for Apple. Their _only_ money is the hardware money. I see you dismiss the 2% argument, I respectfully beg you to reconsider. They make much less than 2% _profit_ on that 2% revenue. They’re motivated to see apps that sell hardware, that’s all.
Further, I don’t like the stars-only model of recommendation, I want to see a mid-length (one or two pages) review. With, unavoidably, some numeric ranking. And, as I wrote in the piece above, this ought to be presented as an _opinion_, not, as in Consumer Reports, a judgement, the result of lab tests. Nothing wrong with those, but apps rise and fall on more than quantifiable performance: look, feel, ease of use, “fluidity”, “nice” and the like, all fodder for opinions. Apple would get in trouble for their opinions, but that’s what they do today already.

By: Yann

Yann — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:31:15 +0000

@JLG : unfortunately, the presented idea is much closer to the “FNAC” model and its infamous “Guide FNAC”. In essence, FNAC reviewers test and provide their advise on products they also distribute. The notation is clearly labeled using “stars”. Getting the maximum number of stars is the ultimate objective of many manufacturers and consumers.

“Guide FNAC” started by building its brand, with solid reviews. And then what happened ? The obvious.
Products which were good enough to receive the maximum number of stars were also “hinted” to give discounts to FNAC distribution. If they did not accomodate, this would cost them one or two stars.
Soon enough, the opposite become true, and mediocre product could also “buy” some stars through gifts and financial terms.

In the end, everyone should know today that the guide, once a good one, is now just a ploy to direct consumers towards highest margin products for FNAC, if not for FNAC’s reviewers…

What’s the difference with the Michelin model ? Well, as you said, Michelin has no financial incentive to provide more or less stars to a restaurant or a visit place, they don’t get any “share” in return. That’s what makes them more independant, and therefore a bit more “trustful”. Since consumers buy the review, it matters a lot that it is trusted.

Unfortunately, in this model, Apple sells & distributes apps, not the reviews. Although i hear the argument that “it doesn’t count much at the bottom line( only 2%)”, it’s still not convincing enough. The FNAC model seems to prevail here.