There's much confusion in this.<p>The map is about uncharted business opportunities, ie. introducing new competitors.<p>Yes, consumer products (in contrast to goods that enable buyers to generate income) are competing for buyers' budgets. This is actually quite literally a zero-sum game. (There's only a rather limited probability that your income will automatically increase as you buy a new TV set, in order to make up for it.) What these budgets are, is rather a matter of macroeconomics, which remain entirely untouched by the article.<p>Finally, Jobs' statement is about the validity of market research as the sole driving input for innovation and development. (Going back to the map, it's as if we would be mapping undiscovered species: gorilla – checked, found that, okapi – checked, tripedal swan – not found yet, monopod – not found yet, etc. This quite Borgesesque chart would be able to map any successes possible in advance. Therefor, we would know that it makes no sense to look into the seas, as there are no unchecked species left there. However, product development is neither a zero-sum game nor is there a finite pool of ideas, nor is it defined or limited by what we already know. Chances are, the optimum hasn't been reached yet, nor does everybody know what this may look like, otherwise, there'd be little incentive to innovate at all.)<p>I have a hard time even wondering how these things should be connected. At best, you could link the map to the "known unknowns", but, going with Jobs, you'd have to admit that this is not a map at all, but a rather weak metaphor. Meaning, as a map is all about navigating the known world, it is of little help for imagining what may be beyond it. (The known existence of uncharted territories is rather an invitation to go there and find what may be found there in order to increase that portion of the sum, which is accessible to me.) But, we'd have to admit also that this insight doesn't revolutionize macroeconomics, as these are on an entirely different level. In a sense, the map in the first example is more about a sweeping spotlight, highlighting those areas where budgets are momentarily spent.