INSPIRED, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 63Profile: Camille Hearst of Apple

I'd love to introduce you to another very strong product manager, Camille Hearst.

Camille was a product manager on the iTunes team at Apple, and as you might imagine with such a disruptive and groundbreaking product, she experienced and learned a great deal during her formative product years at Apple. This was especially the case because she was there during the years moving from iTunes's original DRM‐based music to DRM‐free, which was critical in helping iTunes become truly mass market.

Moving beyond early adopters into mass market involved many different efforts, some product, some marketing, and some a blend of the two. A good example of this blend was the relationship the iTunes team engaged with the American Idol television program.

This turned out to be one of the most dramatic and visible—yet challenging—product efforts for the iTunes team.

This is a great example of how great product managers work to find creative solutions to very difficult problems.

During 2008, American Idol was a cultural icon—watched by more than 25 million people twice a week, with a level of repeat engagement that was largely unrivaled.

Apple saw in this an opportunity to expose an ideal target market to the power of iTunes and digital music. Not just by selling the music from the contestants featured on the show but by making iTunes an integral part of consumers' lives.

However, while the potential was substantial, the challenges were significant ...