What Does the iPhone Teach Us About Technology & Commerce?
The reviews for the iPhone are coming in, and they are breathless (see below).
Rather than add to the over-the-top-hype about the gorgeous little thing, I would rather think about what lessons can be drawn from its mere existence.
I believe there are quite a few practical things to be taken away from the development and marketing of this. An education is available to those companies, corporate mangements, engineers, inventors and investors who are paying attention:
1. Committees Suck: The old joke is that a Camel is a Horse designed by a committee. As we have seen all too often, what comes out of large corporations are bland-to-ugly items that (while functional and reliable) do not excite consumers.
When a company decides to break the committee mindset and give a great designer the reins, you get terrific products that sell well. The Chrysler 300 does not looks like it was designed by a corporate committee. Think of Chris Bangle's vision for BMW -- and its huge sales spike -- and you can see what the upside is in having a visionary in charge of design.
Better pick a damned good one, though . . .
2. Present Interfaces Stink: How bad is the present Human Interface of most consumer items? Leaving the improving, but still too hard to use Windows aside for a moment, let's consider the mobile phone market: It was so kludgy and ugly that the entire 100 million unit, multi-billion dollar industry now finds itself at risk of being completely bypassed, all because some geek from California wanted a cooler and easier to use phone.
What other industries may be at risk?
3. Industrial Design Matters: We have entered a period where industrial design is a significant element in consumer items. From the VW Bug to the iPod, good design can take a ho-hum ordinary product and turn it into a sales winner.
4. R&D is Paramount: While most of corporate America is slashing R&D budgets (and buying back stock), the handful of companies who have plowed cash back into R&D are the clear market leaders this cycle: Think Apple, Google (Maps, Search), Toyota (Hybrid), Nintendo (Wii). A well designed, innovative product can create -- or upend -- an entire market. Even Microsoft did it with the X-box;
What other companies have the ability to disrupt an entire market?
5. Disdain for the Consumer can be Fatal: As we have seen with Dell, Home Depot, The Gap, Sears, etc., the consumer experience is more important than most corporate management seem to realize. Ignore the public at your peril.
What other lessons are there for companies in the business of designing products for consumers to use?
For the moment, let's put the iPhone aside and answer the questions above: What markets, companies, products , segments are at risk due to their poor designs? (Use the comments to answer).
~~~
Note: Some of the commenters are missing the point of the post -- this is about the business of creativity and innovation.
We are not looking for a discussion of Apple in general; Off topic comments will be unpublished.
~~~
The WSJ and NYT reviews of the iPhone are below:
Graphic courtesy of NYT
The NYT's David Pogue:
"The phone is so sleek and thin, it makes Treos and BlackBerrys look obese. The glass gets smudgy — a sleeve wipes it clean — but it doesn’t scratch easily. I’ve walked around with an iPhone in my pocket for two weeks, naked and unprotected (the iPhone, that is, not me), and there’s not a mark on it.
But the bigger achievement is the software. It’s fast, beautiful, menu-free, and dead simple to operate. You can’t get lost, because the solitary physical button below the screen always opens the Home page, arrayed with icons for the iPhone’s 16 functions...E-mail is fantastic. Incoming messages are fully formatted, complete with graphics; you can even open (but not edit) Word, Excel and PDF documents.
The Web browser, though, is the real dazzler. This isn’t some stripped-down, claustrophobic My First Cellphone Browser; you get full Web layouts, fonts and all, shrunk to fit the screen. You scroll with a fingertip — much faster than scroll bars. You can double-tap to enlarge a block of text for reading, or rotate the screen 90 degrees, which rotates and magnifies the image to fill the wider view.
Finally, you can enlarge a Web page — or an e-mail message, or a photo — by spreading your thumb and forefinger on the glass. The image grows as though it’s on a sheet of latex."
He goes on to lament the AT&T network, but then adds:
But even in version 1.0, the iPhone is still the most sophisticated, outlook-changing piece of electronics to come along in years. It does so many things so well, and so pleasurably, that you tend to forgive its foibles.
The WSJ's Walt Mossberg loves the iPhone; He too is far less sanguine about AT&T's network:
Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface, which dispenses with a stylus and most buttons, works well, though it sometimes adds steps to common functions...
Despite its simple interface, with just four rows of colorful icons on a black background, the iPhone has too many features and functions to detail completely in this space. But here's a rundown of the key features, with pros and cons based on our testing.
Hardware: The iPhone is simply beautiful. It is thinner than the skinny Samsung BlackJack, yet almost its entire surface is covered by a huge, vivid 3.5-inch display. There's no physical keyboard, just a single button that takes you to the home screen. The phone is about as long as the Treo 700, the BlackBerry 8800 or the BlackJack, but it's slightly wider than the BlackJack or Treo, and heavier than the BlackBerry and BlackJack.
The display is made of a sturdy glass, not plastic, and while it did pick up smudges, it didn't acquire a single scratch, even though it was tossed into Walt's pocket or briefcase, or Katie's purse, without any protective case or holster. No scratches appeared on the rest of the body either.
Mossberg's Bottom line: "Despite its network limitations, the iPhone is a whole new experience and a pleasure to use."
Video: WSJ's Mossberg on the iPhone
Smartphone Comparo via WSJ:
Graphic courtesy of WSJ
>
Sources:
The iPhone Matches Most of Its Hype
DAVID POGUE
NYT, June 27, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/technology/circuits/27pogue.html
Testing Out the iPhone
We Spend Two Weeks Using Apple's Much-Anticipated Device
To See if It Lives Up to the Hype; In Search of the Comma Key
WALTER S. MOSSBERG and KATHERINE BOEHRET
WSJ, June 27, 2007; Page D1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118289311361649057.html
Free WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118289311361649057-
W6qVttG9sB6a8O2_ENm4oAsntR0_20080627.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top
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Comments
Isn't this such an old story. Why not tell us about the Chrysler and Empire State Building? Or the Coke bottle? Corbusier? Better yet, tell us about Leonardo Da Vinci!
What the iPhone really tells us are that even financial journalists can get caught up in the hype and forget their job.
Posted by: H Roseff | Jun 27, 2007 7:54:25 AM
What does it tell us? That fads are good for business?
Posted by: Jimi | Jun 27, 2007 8:08:57 AM
The main lesson here is that consumers have been entrained to long for, and readily buy, a lot of rather trivial techno junk that usually doesn't really work. iPhone is pretty unremarkable: a telephone (how revolutionary!), email with a shitty little key board (wow, worse that my computer at work and at home and at the coffee shop and why do I need this thing?), voice mail (new! new! new!), a camera phone (can't live without that, want to see a picture of my.....?) and maybe shitty little movies on a microscreen (no comment needed). I guess the revolution is that it may actually work. Anyone remember "Built to Last"? No revolution here, and probably no customer service either. I guess the iphone is really just a pathetic remembrance of a time gone by. Revolutionary!!
Posted by: Peter Colosi | Jun 27, 2007 8:27:22 AM
If the iPhone is disruptive technology (which I think it is because I find the experience with any cellphone company irritating at best) is it also going to have a disruptive effect on AT&T? Cingular/AT&T is a company that has a reputation for poor customer service.
Posted by: James | Jun 27, 2007 8:29:36 AM
Barry,
You are holding Apple shares and your objectivity has been clouded by iPhone hype and promotion. Here are some other opinions to make your constant iPhone hype more fair and balanced.
~~~
BR: Your are incorrect: As I make crystal clear in the disclosure page, I clearly reveal all of my positions on any and every post.
I own no Apple stock, nor have I for some time.
The fast track to losing commenting privileges are these sorts of false statements . . .
Posted by: V L | Jun 27, 2007 8:30:08 AM
Segments at risk? I'd say the car industry.
The entry and mid-level designs are so alike and boring I can't tell which car it is or who produced it. There is no identity anymore and to me that is key in this current crisis.
I can't afford a Porsche and there is not one car I can afford that I want to buy.
Posted by: mhm | Jun 27, 2007 8:33:24 AM
What V L said plus, Mossberg must be sleeping with Jobs. All he ever do is gush about Apple. I was surprised to see him actually criticize the crappy network it runs on.
Posted by: me | Jun 27, 2007 8:44:21 AM
I think "blogs" fit all five of your criteria. The user interface hasn't changed since Day 1, and it's still just newspaper columnist wannabes and their letters-to-the-editor junkies. Commenting on a blog entry is so obviously inferior to posting one that you don't get much synergy or collaboration. But I'd better save my best ideas on this for my own blog. ;)
Posted by: J Mellon | Jun 27, 2007 8:45:45 AM
Apple is the King Kong of fad. That said, they do it well. But like many of apple's products, with the iphone they have built a "way cool" gadget, but forgotten who their market is.
You want to revolutionize the world? Develop a keyboard that is not designed to slow people down when they type, as the QWERTY keyboard was so designed. Hell, for that matter develop so decent voice recognition software.
~~~
br That was done years ago -- ITS CALLED DVORAK
http://www.siteuri.ro/dvorak/
Posted by: LAWMAN | Jun 27, 2007 8:57:00 AM
I'm a little confused by the Xbox comment. What market did Microsoft create or upend with the Xbox? Online console gameplay? It certainly wasn't the console hardware market. They got hosed last generation and will get hosed again this generation (if they're not careful) at the rate the units seem to be failing.
~~~
BR: The dominant player was the Sony Playstation -- Microsoft manged to bypass them. Sony is now the #3 firm in the space.
Posted by: Charles | Jun 27, 2007 9:16:55 AM
V L quotes some comparative reviews that contain good points, but they are mostly irrelevant points in the same way the iPod comparative reviews were. That is to say there were lots of iPod competitors who could say, "Hey, the iPod is overpriced and underfeatured! Ours has more buttons and everything!" It was true. And it just didn't matter. The iPod-iTunes universe worked so smoothly and effortlessly, it rocked the category.
Tech companies think in terms of tech ("We got more features!"), but the iPod worked in the consumer world. The iPhone is positioned to do the same. I look at this thing and I think that for the first time we have a consumer device that looks like Star Trek technology, not just in the form factor (cell phones have looked like Trek communicators for a while) but in the way you interact with the touch screen and the icons. I've never seen anything like it in a hand-held, consumer-targeted device. It is, quite simply, a category breaker.
So I'm sure the tech competitors will again roll out the same old arguments ("Overpriced! Undertechnology! We got more buttons!") they used against the iPod. And once again it won't matter.
Posted by: JustAGuy | Jun 27, 2007 9:18:46 AM
Wow, so much hate for the iPhone, yet no one can stop talking about it. Just to point out to the business and technogeek users, the iPhone was not designed for you. It was designed for the exec's wife and kids. (1 exec - 1 wife, 2 kids, that's a 3 to 1 market increase) It was designed for the young urban professional. It wasn't designed to run spreadsheets and enter sales data. It was designed to provide access to the lifestyle parts of the web. The Safari interface will allow the spreadsheets, databases and sales data to be used on the iPhone but that isn't it's purpose.
You can list and list all complaints but it is coming readily apparent that the iPhone will be a runaway success. It is apparent that the interface will become the new standard for all phones. All of Barry's points are right on the mark and it is time this happened to the mobile phone industry.
Posted by: JKB | Jun 27, 2007 9:21:08 AM
Funny what history tells us.
1. We all bought Dell computers when we should have purchased an Apple.
2. Who cares how business reacts, they have always stayed away from innovation, they now have their employees "locked into their" Blackberrys, at great cost. It's the drone effect. To loosen up their employees they gave them an edict that they can be casual on Friday - and guess what, the employees filled their fridays. But, for the most part, Monday thru Thusday are still - uniform as usual - even after 15 years.
Let's move the drones - so they were told to buy SUVs - so they did - except their wives had to still have a Van. Look at the driveways - an SUV next to a Van. A little more money and they have a 3rd car - something little and sporty.
Actually, the drone is moved to mediocrity peer pressure, employer pressure, by big business conservative pressure....and along comes a "Maverick" (steven jobs) with a hand held device which looks (and acts) like a Porsche - and Mr. Mediocrity with his acceptable haircut, jewelry, and clothing - wants an iphone in his pocket and when he pulls it out - watch the smile come to his face.
All of the "talking heads" and poo poo's of the media - who always miss "the move" are at it again. Good for you Walt Mossberg - and it is always why I listen to your reviews - Walt is his own man! This Next Month will be "big" for Apple Recognition. "Big" as in WOW!
Steven Jobs is one of the Great American Stories. I am very impressed and, Other than Walt, I can't remember any of the names of the reviewers...nor will they ever cause a ripple in american business.
One thing for sure - Barry will have at least one iphone in his family and that is why I check in with Barry - He even knows who makes the worst coffee - where the best hambergers are AND why the CPI is Bull $hit!
Thanks Barry!
Posted by: paul | Jun 27, 2007 9:26:37 AM
C'mon guys/gals, we all know this has nothing to do with "revolutionary technology".
Apple is a marketing firm first, and a technology company second.
What do white headphones have to do with technology? Nothing. But from a marketing standpoint? Absolute genius.
jb
Posted by: James Bednar | Jun 27, 2007 9:30:23 AM
I suspect the biggest lesson to be learned is how moronic it was for APPL to give its competitors a huge head start by announcing the Jesus phone, the phone that walks on watter, so far in advance of the roll out.
MOT, NOK, ERICY, and Samsung will be very well prepared for the Christmas 2008 selling season.
Posted by: S | Jun 27, 2007 9:33:44 AM
1. What people are failing to realize in their ready-to-disregrd-the-iPhone rants is that this piece of equipment can surf the internet on WiFi with a real browser interface.
2. Granted, the iPhone does have its limitations, but soon you will see consumers demanding more from their portable devices and the "fad", as many choose to call it, will turn into a trend in mobile devices, with Apple leading the way. It's a mistake to compare it to the Blackberry. The majority of iPhone's initial customer base will not be current or potential Blackberry buyers. (Watch how many "regualr consumers" will suddenly be in the market for a smartphone - but only the iPhone.)
3. The iPod was not "new" technology either, remember, and it was criticized by most reviewers. Soon, it won't be enough to have "just an iPod" that can't surf the internet or take pictures, even if it does play videos (these iPod's will soon be "less cool"). Oh, wait, the iPhone does all that AND can make and recieve phone calls?
4. My 19-year-old lugs around a digital camera, a 30 gigabite video iPod, and a cell phone, and still, with all these devices (totalling over $800 in cost price), she can't surf the internet. (My daughter, and all her friends, would NEVER buy a Blackberry: "Ugly". Functionailty is important but "cool factor" trumps it by about 1,000 times. Period.)
5. Although the price may be steep for now, expect it to drop over time, expect more funcionality and features to future iPhone models, and don't expect that this is a "fad". Within the next year to year-and-a-half, you will being buying an iPhone, if not for yourself, as a gift for that tech-savvy Gen Y son, daughter, niece, nephew, or grandchild.
6. And how convenient that Apple & AT&T have set things up so that you don't have to activate a new line just to purchase one... makes gift giving a whole lot easier.
Full disclosure: (Long AAPL and worked 7 years for Cingular in Sales. The majority of sales between November and January were gift purchases for relatives. Expect iPhone to be on lots of Christmas lists this year.)
Posted by: Boston | Jun 27, 2007 9:35:00 AM
Any old-time Apple followers remember the Newton?
It was the first thing I thought of when I saw the iPhone.
http://members.aol.com/stevenw9/mp2000.jpg
jb
Posted by: James Bednar | Jun 27, 2007 9:36:29 AM
@paul
We all bought Dell computers because, at the time, Apple's laptops and computers -sucked- (performa anyone?). Now everyone is buying Apple computers because Dell computers now -suck-. Of course - Dell has figured this out and is improving and streamlining their product line (see yesterday's Dell announcement on new laptops). I also find it interesting that many of the comments here are very similar to comments made about the iPod when it was introduced (too expensive! too big! no one cares about the interface! what?!? no FM!). Quite frankly I am sick of the bile and the lovefest put forth by those who come to so quick opinion about a product -that hasn't even shipped yet-.
But back to the original questions. I would say the appliance industry suffers from poor interface. Controls are confusing. Some make no sense (the fact that I have to turn my $600 stainless steel dishwasher off and on to start a new cycle is annoying to say the least). New appliances with graphical interfaces are worse than phones. Who the hell cares if it can tell me I am out of milk - why don't you tell me the darn temperature that you are set at?
Posted by: yoshi | Jun 27, 2007 9:38:09 AM
Hey, Barry.
I'm so cynical about this whole subject that I just couldn't bring myself to comment in public. Nevertheless, your question is very worthwhile, and I've pondered it off and on these few hours, and in one form or another, thirty years. I've developed more products, have more Patents, and have written more than some entire (large) technology companies (and have damn little to show for it) so I think my opinion is, if not of value, at least somewhat informed. So, here goes...
"What markets, companies, products, segments are at risk due to their poor designs?"
Good Answer #1: All of Them. Because (chuckle) better designed (har har har) products (giggle snort) will beat out... I'm sorry for shooting milk out of my nose, but I just can't say this with a straight face. How about simply, "all SHOULD be at risk"? All damn well OUGHT to be at risk.
Better Answer #2: None. Because hype, branding, hucksterism, image, politics, payoffs, favoritism, elitism, corruption, self-interest, celebrity, connections, marketing, and plain old bullshit are way more important than design. This is assuming of course that you were referring to the design of the product (as opposed to the design of the box, the ads, the promotions, and so forth).
Correct Answer #3: Some, but who knows which? Because it's an imperfect world, so sometimes the better product does succeed (which happens so seldom it is newsworthy), and because sometimes the sleaze merchants die of auto-erotic self strangulation, flee the country, or some such before they manage to complete their evil deeds (which, unfortunately also happens so seldom it is newsworthy).
As to your points:
1. Committees Suck -- especially when the members are largely looking out for themselves or their constituencies instead of a shared, common goal. Which is virtually always the case. Some (such as Congress) don't even PRETEND to work toward a common goal.
2. Present Interfaces Suck -- no question at all -- iPhone included, sight unseen. And they suck for wrong and completely unnecessary reasons -- cost, perceived adequacy, laziness, incompetency, fast-time-to-market, especially ivory-towerism (meaning designs by people who were never actually FORCED to use what they design).
3. Industrial Design Matters -- yes, but, again for the wrong reason. In a completely "marketing" driven, celebrity-based society, products mustn't be good, they must be DISTINCTIVE (this is why most long-term entertainer's voices -- good or bad -- are instantly recognizable). It ain't all that easy being "new and different" (unless you have been branded to be automatically perceived as "new and different" in which case you are by definition and are pretty much home free).
4. R&D is Paramount -- wrong, wrong, wrong. Well long-term right, short-term wrong. Today, image and crowd pleasing group-think is everything. Don't hide your eyes, plagarize. Shine up that pig, give it a nice name and a pretty cover, let Paris Hilton hawk it. You specifically said to not discuss the i-thing, but I challenge you to find a single novel, original thing about it.
5. Disdain for the Consumer can be Fatal -- one upon a time, no longer. Go call an India call center if you really believe this. Go to the DMV. Turn on reality TV. Go buy concert tickets. These days, you have to set your customers on fire (and give them e-Bola) to get them to even THINK of going elsewhere. Of course, if the other celebrity tells everyone you have disdain for the consumer...
Will I go buy one of them thar iPhones? Don't know yet. I'm tempted to get one just to play around with to see what all the fuss is about. On the other hand, I already KNOW what all the fuss is about (or at least, how the fuss was generated). And, the last "new and innovative" thing I bought ended chopped up and thrown into the pool. So, is it worth $1K or so (taxes, contract etc.) to sneer at Steve? Don't know yet. Maybe I'll hide the ax and borrow somebody else's.
Maybe some marketing guy's.
Jim B.
Posted by: Jim B. | Jun 27, 2007 9:48:17 AM
I agree about Nokia. However, I also believe that iphone is a pretty f$&#ing impressive first effort. I'll reserve my judgement until I see what comes out of the Apple pipeline...
Right now it appears to be more fashion than function kinda like a pair of sensible six inch heels... I am anticipating some great things....
Econolicious
Posted by: ECONOMISTA NON GRATA | Jun 27, 2007 9:50:13 AM
Wow, funny to see how many people are missing the point.
The iPhone is not a cell phone with lots of cool stuff & a slick interface.
The iPhone is a a computer that has cell phone capability. The phone runs OS X. (addressing the post about how the Nokia 95 walks on water) Running OS X indicates that the iPhone can in fact support Java. How the lame network forced on iPhone users affects their ability to use Java is another matter.
It is so obvious the iPhone is a test bed for the thing that Jobs could have and should have released years ago: A Newton replacement.
There is plenty crappy to point out about the iPhone. However, an interface that doesn't suck is not on the list.
No, I don't own Apple stock. And I won't be buying an iPhone. It takes more than getting the software right.
Posted by: Mike Nomad | Jun 27, 2007 9:57:14 AM
Apple used to have some computing chops when the Woz had more pull. The Woz said himself that he was disappointed that people didn't take more time to understand how computers worked in order to be able to use then more effectively. He was opposed to the philosophies that Jobs now actively runs the company by.
It amazes me the arrogance and ignorance the Apple suckers display while deriding those not hypnotized by Jobs' b.s.
Posted by: KP | Jun 27, 2007 10:00:06 AM
jb,
It's more than just marketing - Apple's core strength is it's design talent, which makes the job of a marketer much, much easier.
What separates good design from so-so or outright bad design is that everything in a good design has been thought out - nothing is there just because it worked somewhere else.
Good design not only identifies and solves problems that people have, it also delivers surprises - first at how well it satisfies the reason why someone might have bought it, and then with what it can do that the buyer later discovers.
Where Apple has really succeeded however has been in its choice of market to take on with it's design strengths. The music entertainment industry in particular has routinely turned out horrible products over the past 30 years.
Here, I'm not referring to the music, I'm referring to what they put the music on and the requirements they demand of the music enthusiasts. Sure, the CD produced outstanding sound, but the CD jewel box has got to the the worst designed product, ever, in common everyday use.
Flimsy, easy to crack or break, it arrives in a plastic shrink wrap that's excessively difficult to remove. And they all cost too much (thanks, RIAA.) And then you have to pay way too much for a bunch of less desirable songs to go along with the ones you really like.
There's a reason why the electronic formats for audio really took off, even though the sound quality is generally recognized as not being as good. It's good enough (and getting better), lets you choose the songs you really want, and you don't have to deal with the damned jewel box.
Apple has pretty much succeeded at designing and implementing solutions at nearly every level of the music industry. Now, if they could do more with the mobile communication networks....
Posted by: Ironman | Jun 27, 2007 10:03:15 AM
A couple of other at-risk products/markets:
Newspapers - and I'm talking about the form factor here. Why do they come in several sections, that require two hands and a lot of room to peruse? USA Today created a breakthrough design 20 something years ago, but the market for news, already suffering due to the digital revolution, is vulnerable to another paradigm-changing layout. Think the WSJ in a tabloid format.
The DVR market should be owned by Tivo's interface, but hasn't been. I thought Apple's iTV would breakthrough here, but hasn't. I still think it's a vulnerable space, operating in a look-and-feel world.
What about watches? Imagine an Apple entry into that market, with a watch that has a touchscreen and functions such as temperature, heart rate, pedometer, map, etc.
Posted by: Rusty | Jun 27, 2007 10:04:47 AM
What does the iPod teach us about technology?
#6 Innovation opens you up to scorn and jealousy. Cell phone interfaces suck, so why should Apple feel entitled to put out a product that might not suck? Who the hell do they think they are?
#7 Ignore naysayers, take a chance, profit.
Posted by: rebound | Jun 27, 2007 10:18:44 AM
