This post is written by Humza Ijaz is a Digital Creative Director, currently working @ LBI. His interests include: Designing for Web, Looking out for new technologies and has a new hobby of studying information design.
I discovered two great things yesterday which helped me clear out lot of confusions in my head regarding the “iPad” topic once and for all.
Firstly, my good friend and colleague Imthiaz Rafiq @hmimthiaz posted a great article relating to all the bad press iPad has been receiving in the Middle East region – please have a read here.
Secondly, while looking for some “social technology” presentations which is a recent buzz word I have been interested in – I came across a very interesting “Social Technographics” presentation which explains the “Social Computing Behaviors” of consumers in todays day and age. Have a look here.
Now – lets talk about the purchasing behavior. If I am in the apple store, with this device in my hand, looking at it, thinking to myself: How can I justify spending the money to get one of these things?
Some possible answers if you are one of the few targeted profilers:
Apple Fan
This is a hot device, I am buying this right now
Geek (like me)
Seems like a nice device to skim through all my RSS feeds in the evening and update my blog from my bed every night
The Others (Parents and other members of the family)
We only use facebook, MS Word and Email and look at pictures anyways – so why put money into buying a laptop
Hmmm..so seems like it has a little bit for everyone. But the picture gets a lot more clearer if you break these users into two groups:
Content Creators
Making social content on the go. You love to write blogs, upload videos, music or text
Content Viewers
You love consuming social content including blogs, user generated videos, podcasts, forums, reviews and spend loads of time on social networks
So what is the iPad really?
“It’s Gonna Change The Way We Do The Things We Do Everyday” said by Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President World Wide Product Marketing over at Apple when speaking about the new Apple iPad.
So if we believe that the word is becoming more social and people tend to spend more than 70% of there “online time” on social networks then I would say iPad is the next generation “Social Technology Device”
The chart below shows how different people interact with social technologies which is the “ladder” approach I believe apple is taking as well. Starting from designing for the “content viewers” to essentially the “content creators” after ever generation release.
I remember when I first got my iPhone, I was very limited – now I rarely seem to be using my MacBook pro @ home. Sadly enough, even replying to my work emails mostly from my phone 🙂
To conclude, I wouldn’t call this an “innovative” product just yet! It is still a creative product to me but once put into practice and made use of by millions of people around the world, consuming apps etc, then it will make it to its mark.
Creativity + When put into practice = Innovation
Would love to get feedback from everyone on what are there views on this new device?
The key word is ‘carry’. If you’re going to carry something that does NOT fit in your pocket anyway, would it rather be a half-functional or a fully functional one (i.e. a notebook)?
LOL !!!
@imthiaz you sure?
iPod:
Device came out, people bought it – then after a few months everyone on the train stations and buses seems to have them, cause it solved a problem to a long tedious journey and made it a bit more of a pleasant experience.
iPhone:
Came, we were so unsure of what to use it for but the product looked like it had potential. But we only saw potential once we started doing more than 80% of our quicks "hands on" online activities on it and it replaced out notebooks for us.
iPad:
Will potentially change the way we read content online and interact+spread it around.
Cars & Airplanes:
Creative, very creative – put once put into practice and helps us make distances shorter, it was an innovation
TV:
Wow, it shows moving imagery? But this moving imagery can make me smile, cry and be angry at the same – connects with me emotionally, hence and innovation
My Girlfriend:
Very creative and nice to look at, but after marriage when starts cooking for me, then she will be truly innovative as well 😉 (please don't try this at home)
hahah would still love to hear back why you didn't seem to agree, maybe you will help change my perception.
True, Yes it is very relative. There is not a single product which can make everyone happy. Apple is not claiming that iPad as one such device. People are talking so much about it and making it a cool product.
Like you said this is first step and there is a long way to go 🙂
Buddy I would not agree to your statement "Creativity + When put into practice = Innovation" completely 😉