Are Google’s nerds destroying design?

Interesting article linked at the title, mainly because of this comparison:

It’s hard to get on Google’s (GOOG) case for loving data; after all, expertise in number-crunching algorithms and attention to user behavior are a big part of what’s grown it into a company with a $104 billion market cap and nearly $16 billion in the bank. Google’s data wizards have humbled Yahoo (YHOO), and set Microsoft (MSFT) on its heels in the online game. If that’s where data gets you, well, then, more data for everyone. Right?

Maybe not. When I read Bowman’s post, I immediately thought of Apple (AAPL) – a Silicon Valley company that has a very different relationship with numbers. Unlike Google, which is (if Bowman is to be believed) running online focus groups to choose among 41 shades of blue, Apple hates focus groups. Focus groups trigger Apple’s cultural gag reflex. Where Google leads with the left brain, Apple leads with the right. Sometimes Apple’s attitude yields products like the Flower Power iMac and the G4 Cube. But sometimes you get the iPod or the iPhone. Apple’s attitude is that sometimes, to truly innovate, you’ve got to go beyond giving people what they say they want.

I hate focus groups, hence I found this interesting.

:-)