The iPad has shortcomings, but they only betray Apple's caution, just like what happened with iPhone No. 1. Now every 15-year-old kid asks for an iPhone, and the ones that don't get them get iPod Touches.
We can sit here in our geeky little dorkosphere arguing about it all day, but as much as Apple clearly enjoys our participation, the people Jobs wants to sell this to don't read our rants. They can't even understand them. My step-mother refuses to touch computers, but nowadays checks email, reads newspapers and plays Solitaire on an iPod Touch, after basically picking it up by accident one day. That's a future iPad user if I ever saw one.
Jobs doesn't care about the netbook business, or the ebook business. He's just aiming for the same people they were aiming at. The difference is, he's going to reach them. And the fight will be with whoever enters into the tablet business with him. Paging Mr. Ballmer...
Here are more thoughts from Stephen Fry:
“What can I do with it that I can’t do with a laptop or an iPhone?” they might now be objecting. “Too big for my pocket, not big enough for serious use. Don’t see the need. It’s a solution looking for a problem.”
There are many issues you could have with the iPad. No multitasking, still no Flash. No camera, no GPS. They all fall away the minute you use it. I cannot emphasise enough this point: “Hold your judgment until you’ve spent five minutes with it”. No YouTube film, no promotional video, no keynote address, no list of features can even hint at the extraordinary feeling you get from actually using and interacting with one of these magical objects.
I think Tyler Cowen gets it mostly right:
The story here is one of new markets, not cannibalization or even competition.
Here is an example of what he means.
Read more of Gizmodo’s iPad coverage:
1 comment:
Brilliant analysis.
What it basically means is this: that Apple creates technology for the masses, for the average person, not just techno-geeks. Which means they have won the technology wars.
They also understand the value of emotional connection with consumers, and how that means everything.
Remember when the iPod came out, people criticized its shortcomings in comparison to other products: it doesn't have radio, no interchangeable batteries, etc. We all know how that turned out.
Then with the iPhone, more of the same...it doesn't multitask, it doesn't have interchangeable batteries, etc. We all know how that turned out.
Apple gets it...they establish a visceral, emotional connection with their customers. They are far more than a technology company at this point.
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