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Yesterday we presented ListingLink to CV’s management. It was probably one of the most interesting meetings I’ve had at Classified Ventures, and it got me to thinking about “iTune + iPod.”

Why is that iPod literally dominates the space? Why did the Dell, creative and iRiver players all fail? Maybe not fail, but even hold a candle to Apple’s product, with 87% market share. I will give iriver some credit here for carving out a nice little niche for themselves as the “solid state” choice.

Maybe this is obvious, but the answer is iTunes. Apple did a fantastic job of studying the user-experience from start-to-finish (pod to tunes), applying the right talent and resources to take it to task, branding the product in just the right way, and building an unstoppable marketing machine. I’d love to see a case study on what is undoubtedly one of the most successful consumer products in history.

What can we learn from this? It all starts from studying the experience. Without that, the rest will never fall into place. Just as a lot of people say designers should read their copy, so to should we study the experiences we create. We’re on the front lines.

I once went to a talk at IA Collaborative. They walked through their research process of designing a watch for Nike, and the picking a seat at online for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. They designed and produced an experience where that both allowed you to select a seat and see the view from that seat.