Eric's got power to burn. That's what you'd expect of a Product Marketing Manager at Apple. His office is packed with a dozen different Power Macs (including some pre-production prototypes and concepts). Working with new technology and directing the future of the product line ensures that a typical day for Eric is anything but typical.
"The only constant in technology is change and Apple is no exception. Wearing several hats, multi-tasking, and juggling many things at once defines the norm here. In Product Marketing there are opportunities to work across just about every discipline of the company, from market research to product design, engineering to legal and finance, industrial design to sales, manufacturing to customers, you name it. And anything and everything can happen without notice to interrupt a normal workday. The trick is to be adaptable. At Apple, things are always changing--that's part of the allure, and to be honest, part of the fun."
Eric's work isn't limited to groups inside Apple. He also spends lots of time on the road, talking to customers. Whether visiting a visual effects production company in Southern California, a research institution in Bethesda, or a publisher in Chicago, a large part of Eric's job is to understand what the customers want and need. "Lowry Digital is one of my favorite Power Mac G5 success stories. They have an installation of 600 dual processor Power Mac G5 systems--a truly awesome amount of computing power--that they used to restore the original Star Wars trilogy for the recent DVD box set."
Why does Eric spend so much time talking to customers? "Fundamentally, Apple is about creating innovative products. The attention to detail and the desire to provide the ultimate customer experience surpasses anything I've seen at other companies. There are thousands of companies who produce extremely important and useful products, but Apple's products often elicit an emotional response and connection with customers that is extremely unique and very rewarding."
— Eric, Product Marketing Manager