It wasn't always this way. And we have to ask ourselves if this way is better than how we've done it. Fruit company got very far by focusing on research, and in many ways they still do. But there have been articles about how they fairly recently changed how they will "design," and it sounds like it's going to be cycles of guesses versus more research based. I would expect their products to reflect this.

Research is always important. R&D are always important. But right now, the whole world seems to think that "fast" is better than good. So they'll go faster, but will they be better? And if you're Fruit, do you care? You captured so many people, and you assume they will stay with you no matter what.