How could I set up a meeting with Apple to discuss an idea?

try calling them.
or write them a letter.
Email is not good enough.

Your best bet is to start a company to do whatever it is and hope that they buy you.

They’re unlikely to just listen to your ideas; ideas are easy, and execution is hard. Also, if your ideas are similar to something they’re already working on, having a meeting with you and hearing your ideas opens them up to lawsuits—maybe not from you, but from other people in your situation.

@cwilbur That is a much better plan then mine. Very expensive and time consuming but still much better then my idea.

im pretty sure that apple doesnt take product (or service) recommendations from people specifically for the reason cwilbur stated. i remember reading that on a online submission somewhere on the apple site. if you recommend something and apple produces something similar to it, then you could sue them

Sorry to burst your bubble, but ideas are a dime a dozen (even cheaper actually), and Apple has no interest in your idea. They are far too busy working on their own.

@dynamicduo – not exactly fair, given you have no clue what the idea is, wouldn’t you say?

I stand by my comment, benseven. This is seen commonly in my field (web design), people have a great idea for a website/social network/etc but no way to get around doing it, yet they seem to think their idea is so great and awesome and unique that it’s worth time and money (of course I’m not saying this is what Elumas is doing at all). Not to mention, there are HUGE legal issues with taking a customer’s idea and making it into a product, such as who owns the rights to the item? Apple becomes liable even if they just read the idea and see a picture of the concept art, because they could subconsciously add elements into their future designs and thus open themselves up to lawsuits in the future. Furthermore, Apple has many things in the works and a big research and development department thinking up the next generation of items to sell, so they don’t need one person’s idea to continue being successful.

I don’t intend to be cruel or mean, but it’s easier to accept that the task is extremely improbable if not impossible from the start, rather than keep hounding Apple and getting upset that they don’t take your idea into consideration.

@dynamicduo Once again – “Apple has no interest in your idea.”

This is not saying “he task is extremely improbable if not impossible from the start” – who made you Apple spokesdick for Fluther? Thomas is clearly a bright chap and if you want to prevent him becoming discouraged by a lack of response, or impart the improbability of Apple getting back to him, why don’t you try doing so in a less know-it-all smartass fashion?

Congratulations benseven, your last comment officially broke my ironic-o-meter. I would have responded to your points had you not started out with insults. Good day to you.

@dynamicduo – Whatever makes you happy. My original point still stands – I’m sorry for any offense caused.

@benseven: the point is, ideas are a dime a dozen. The people who think their ideas are the most valuable contribution to the project are the people who have never put in the work to get their idea to the point where it’s a finished product.

The absolute best way to see Apple use your idea is to make it work—when they see your idea working, if they want it for their own, they will buy it from you. This is how SoundJam turned into iTunes. (On the other hand, if they like the idea but your implementation is not what they want, they’ll just copy it—this is how Konfabulator turned into Dashboard.)

Beyond that, ideas aren’t copyrightable, trademarkable, or patentable. There’s no reason at all for Apple to pay you one red cent for your ideas, except to prevent you from suing them groundlessly—and Apple has far more lawyers, and far better lawyers, than you do.

@cwilbur – I’m more than aware of this, my point is how this is conveyed to the poster in a manner that does not make assumptions about the quality of the idea, or delivers the paraphrasing of your well thought-out post without crushing someone’s hopes of success…

@benseven: Neither “ideas are a dime a dozen” nor “Apple has no interest in your idea” is a comment on the quality of the idea.

“Apple has no interest in your idea” – how can this be a valid point if a) DD is not a spokesperson for Apple and b) they haven’t got any measure of the quality of the idea? Is it really necessary to piss all over the metaphorical bonfire of something someone could be passionate about rather than simply informing them of the probabilities involved? There have been projects before on here I’ve been cynical about but I’ve still given criticism in a constructive manner and supported the post author, because people need encouragement at the same time as being informed about the realities. There are real people behind these account names, and folk need to remember that.

It’s a valid point for all the other reasons mentioned.

And, for @#$% sake, if someone’s passion can be destroyed by being informed that Apple has no interest in his or her idea, there wasn’t that much passion there in the first place.

Or do you think it’s somehow more appropriate to say that the likelihood of Apple taking an interest in an unsolicited outside idea with no proof of concept implementation is statistically indistinguishable from 0?

I wonder what this idea is. If it sparks this kind of debate then it must be really good.

@cwilbur – Rather than more appropriate, less blunt, and kinder. Or is that a concept that escapes you?

@benseven: it’s a concept that I think is frequently irrelevant. Be as kind as you think is appropriate, and let others do the same.

@cwilbur – or what? You’ll hunt me down and be mean to me?

Please… no… don’t!

You have as much power to compel me to be what you think of as kinder as I have to compel you to be what I think of as less mealymouthed and indirect.

Wow, I wish I were less mealymouthed and more direct. How could I have ever thought calling someone out for being blunt and cruel about an undisclosed idea / concept was a good idea? Quick, CWilbur, how can I get more Internet credibility so I can be as unwaveringly cold and intellectual as yourself?

benseven, what exactly are you trying to gain here, other than continue with your grudge against us? Seriously, you’re coming off as being really passive aggressive and petty here.

I’m bored, and people who use the internet as a vehicle for being blunt and discouraging both piss me off an amuse me with their intellectual posturing. There is nothing to be gained, but it still carries on…

Oh, ok. Thanks for clarifying that :)

I was actually worried that made no sense at all. Now I’m trying to work out whether or not you’re being sarcastic!

I don’t use sarcasm on the Internet, because it simply doesn’t work, it just causes confusion. Such as you wondering whether my comment was sarcastic or not. It wasn’t :)

There should definitely be some kind of markup, like @username has caught on, to denote sarcasm.

There is. It’s a tilde at the end of your line. Like this.~ But as far as I’ve seen it, it’s only here in Fluther that the convention is used. Personally I don’t use it, nor sarcasm, because I don’t feel that a sarcastic answer is really much of a contribution to a discussion, and if I’m ever tempted to write back a snarky sarcastic answer, I think it over again, and rarely do I continue to post it after thinking about it.

I’m also not a fan of the @username convention. I find it’s like pointing a finger to the person (just like Phoenix Wright) and directing your comment explicitly at them, which may be true at times, but also may not be true. However I’ve accepted that its usage will likely increase, and thus I use it occasionally.

As a Twitter user I was already used to that as a convention. I didn’t know about the tilde though. And I’m pretty sure most of my Lurve comes from sarcastic answers!

Yes, some people such as AstroChuck get a lot of lurve from sarcastic or jokey answers. There’s nothing wrong with that. I, on the other hand, get most of my lurve from valuable, informative answers. To each their own.