There are many projects that the wider web community want to fund but are not able to.
Example: There's a demand for the adobe creative suites on Linux, but this wont be happening any time soon.
Adobe wont create a kickstarter campaign as they just wont.
Instead, people should be able to make their deposits to a third party that will release the payments when conditions are met.
Example: groups of people submit their demands and each person submits their micro payment. The conditions on the payment being released to the company of concern must be measurable... otherwise the intended reciepient will recieve their cash payments prematurely.
This would mean that you're acting as an Escrow... something I've only just learnt about.
See, this is exactly why I'd like a service to make feature requests (or slightly negative complaints), in order to rally a critical mass around it. This is not just a shameless plug for the app I just posted to HN (pvshapp.com), though I know it seems that way. I really think you've demonstrated perfectly why there needs to be a standardized platform for consumer product requests--as unlikely as improvements seem.
What you've just done with this post is build 334 affirmations of a change that Apple needs to hear and make. Perhaps it's deeper, more pervasive than a single feature request, but it still highlights a dimension of the company Apple needs to pay attention to. It may seem futile, and it may seem like hundreds of these requests have been made directly through Apple's customer support website, but the fact is that it's not powerful persuasion unless you have public support. That's why PvshApp has 2 objectives: 1) Make it as easy as a Tweet to create a request, and 2) add a public audience to actualize support if there is any.
For Apple, the value of this input is that they can condense customer feedback into one single request that they can focus on (if they so desire) OR here's a dumb idea: If Apple doesn't want to implement the feature, then who's stopping a third party producer from adding the feature? Seriously, it may seem like an IP nightmare at first, and I'm certainly no expert, but if a 3rd-party producer actually wanted to purchase the Apple products at full price, then augment them and sell the added features for a premium, who's to stop them? (This is a question, I'd love to know the answer!) Maybe Apple casts too large of a legal shadow, but I'm sure there are all sorts of other products for which users would be willing to pay a premium for augmented features.
@vitalique thanks for the thoughts on the name! It's definitely not set in stone though. As for the idea-- originality isn't really the objective, it's ease of use. If you can create one destination for all products, and make it as easy as a Tweet to do so, then users may just do so when they have those "Aha! I wish this product had..." moments. The challenge is, as you said, to separate the noise from the creativity. My hope would be that by incentivizing users with real stakes (either financial or brand-building opportunities) the power-user base might help with moderation and promotion. I don't know though, I'm interested to hear what others think/have tried!
I just finally realized what might already be a core facet of your idea.
This site could be used almost like a github or a dribbble for product design. Essentially, aspiring product designers can build a profile of constructive feedback which can be used to validate his or her skills.
Further, product designers can post concepts and prototypes to gather feedback from peers.
Building this community will be near impossible, but if marketed correctly it has great potential!
@smurph, definitely something I'd love to implement if brands really find the feedback useful. Here's a question: Do you think this tool would be most useful to brands--as a consumer research tool? Or to 3rd-party producers who are interested in seeing what market exists for new products/feature requests?
I think your first heavy users will need to be people who are putting brand new products on the market and have no idea how they are going to get feedback. People who have been making iterations for years will have a bunch of work in the past that they won't get 'credit' for, so they might not be fans of starting with a blank slate. Maybe if you had a way to import or track feature requests from other feedback sites, that would get you more users.
It's worth noting that you are competing with other bug tracking / feedback web sites, and there are some established players there.
