Zero to Zero

[MedwayModernist]

I don't know, are you fishing? Of course you can create demand, that's what advertising is.

The iPhone is the perfect example of something being created that no-one new they wanted. No-one was writing to Apple in 2007 saying "please can you supply a hand help phone/computer/message system, as I really want to buy one". The engineers designed it, and people wanted it.

You've got it the wrong way around, demand for something leads to the supply.

The leaders at Apple thought that the people would want a product that offers good quality internet and email etc, and so developed it, and it proved amazingly successful, because the demand for it was there. Blackberry weren't as successful despite working on their products earlier on because they didn't meet the demand as well as Apple did.

Similarly, the operators of airlines thought people would be keen to on foreign holidays if they could afford them, so decided to offer cheap package holidays to cheap foreign countries that were on a par with what you'd have to pay to stay in the UK. There was a demand for it so the airlines survived and thrived and grew.

Advertising is an interesting area when it comes to demand.

Example - I want an amazing car, obviously, who doesn't - and if an Aston Martin DB9 were a £10k each, I'd have one already.

Unfortunately they are more like £300k and I don't fancy selling the house to afford one.

However advertising might be able to convince me that selling the house (and the wife leaving me) is worth it, for the fun and thrill of owning one, but the chances are slim. Either way, the demand for the product is already there, advertising just made me decide to go for it.

 

[PhilK66]

Creative marketing is a very successful selling tool for companies. Designing or creating a product that no one feels they need until it exists.
It is particularly prevalent in the electronics sector. Also there is a strong element of "toys for adults" in many cases.

 

[jogills]

It is interesting that many fulminate against cross subsidy yet it is common across the board in public and private sytems. That cross subsidy can be used to offer low prices to certain groups and to profit from the resulting mass sales. I'm not arguing for or against the practise but it modifies the working of supply and demand.