This consistent marketing experience from Apple is something that competitors simply cannot reproduce. These companies are coming from a computer background for the most part, and they are set up to market new products to the audience that buys computers. That’s why promotions around most Android tablets have tried to appeal to the tech-savvy crowd. Remember the early Motorola XOOM ads? Like virtually all tablet ads, they missed the iPad target market completely.
James Kendrick has some good insights here. He’s right – none of the companies making tablets beside Apple have been able to provide a compelling message to customers about why their device is better. Where I separate from him is in thinking that “many of the products not selling are quite good.” Most of them are downright miserable pieces of crap, as evidenced by playing with them for five minutes or less.
Part of the secret is realizing that people hate using computers so they designed iOS to work completely differently from typical computers.
I listened to an HP rep presenting his spell about tablets to our library system today and he said:
1. It took Apple 5 years to bring a tablet to market and it only took them 1 year.
2. The HP tablets were aimed at enterprise and multitasking, which makes them better
3. It has Flash!
4. It is thicker and heavier than an iPad because it is a beefier machine
5. Soon it will have even more apps than the iPad because it is so easy to design for
6. Apple does not make any money off the iPads. They make all their money off iTunes
7. They were lowering their price on the HP tablets after only 6 weeks because they wanted to be competitive. He felt sure that they would be #2 in tablets by next year
8. He hadn’t a clue how it played music when asked but he knew it did. 🙂
Microsofts vision of what a computer should be (Windows) just sucked. I’ve had my MacBook Pro for over a year now & it’s awesome! Until people get a Mac, they’ll never know for themselves how terrible Windows really is! I can’t go anywhere without my MBP. You’re right though. Even the MBP is not for total novices. Making iOS “idiot-proof” was genius. Takes a lot of stress out of the UX.
If I give my iPhone 4 to anyone, even a BB-lover, they can’t put it down! iOS is too addictive. It’s smooth & just flows! I’ve tried to use other devices in the stores. Android devices are too confusing in comparison. The days of making software complicated to make it seem good are over. Users want things that just work, minus the tech-stress. BB’s are just too basic to be compared to even WebOS. They don’t make any use of apps, but that’s not surprising considering they didn’t even think apps were useful 2 years ago. Plus, every BB user I know has probably never even used their web-browser before (BBM is the main function used). Maybe these companies should copy Apple’s business model instead of its hardware.
So glad I wasn’t there. I would have schooled his ass before smacking him, and I don’t need any more legal trouble.
It’s why reps need to stick to printed material and not improvise. They’ll just look like idiots.