Apple’s TV commercials are almost as legendary as its products and there is a new one released for the iPad 2.
[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]Dubbed “We Believe” the commercial talks about what Apple believes about the iPad 2. It’s quite a different approach for Apple, who usually highlight the apps in their commercials.
The commercial’s text is:
This is what we believe. Technology alone is not enough. Faster, thinner, lighter — those are all good things. But when technology gets out of the way, everything becomes more delightful, even magical. That’s when you leap forward. That’s when you end up with something like this.
[Via MacRumors]
Geeks won’t get it. It doesn’t have a full USB port. It doesn’t have terminal (command line for you Windows wonks). You can’t write Python scripts for it! (I would give Applescript for iPad a try, but what good would it do?)
For geeks, and I’m talking about über-geeks who think anyone who doesn’t build their computer out of parts for less than the cost of a 3D movie ticket, is a loser, the iPad is no good, because it’s not about the hardware or the software, it’s about what it does.
One of Apple’s better commercials of the last few years. It goes right to the core of what Apple believes.
Fantastic spot. Apple’s advertising is pitch perfect.
I agree with the others. It gets at the distinction between the iPad and the other tablets coming out. Even though the iPad 2’s tech specs may be eclipsed in various ways by various tablets in the next year, Apple is changing the discussion from being about tech specs to being about the experience, and this commercial hammers that point home. While other tablets might be able to compete in terms of specs, none of them currently come close to recreating the experience of an iPad. Until they do (or until they can get their prices down below Apple’s), they don’t stand a chance.
I know this doesn’t get at your point, but for doubtful geeks out there:
There *is* a command line (it is just a pain to install in >3.2) and there is a java VM, python interpreter and a C compiler. You just need to jailbreak the device to install them.
Feels strange to see Apple return almost to the lyrical style of “Think Different,” considering how long they’ve been advertising features and functions. I dig hearing Peter Coyote narrate regardless.
You’re right, but I believe the timing is great. They’re done educating people about what the iPad — and the iPhone, for that matter — is and what it’s features are.
Just as competitors start to get into the market, boasting about features and functions, Apple pulls a “Beatles” on them and focuses on the one thing others can’t copy; the ecosystem and the user experience.
I don’t really know Peter Coyote, but the voice is a perfect choice for the commercial.
Technology alone is not enough? I think Apple should explain this phrase more precisely. It is like they are finally admitting that Motorola Xoom is actually better than iPad 2 in terms of specs. You have to agree with that one! But I strongly agree with the ad of Apple iPad 2, technology is not enough because people with not enough technical knowledge wouldn’t know the difference. If you ask your Mom to choose between iPad 2 and Xoom, there is no chance that she will choose the Motorola device. Functionality is really the number one criteria! With overflowing options of apps to choose from, any android tablet would be no match with this device. But it is a wise decision for Motorola to let consumers be familiar with their Xoom. Just like what Samsung has done to their Galaxy, now people consider it as the number 2 tablet after iPad because of their familiarity to the product. Lastly, Android Tablets should widen their app choices so people will finally have a reason to purchase their product.
Coyote is a very interesting person with a long record in both acting and activism. I remember him best as “Keys” from Speilberg’s “E.T.”
It’ll take more than a collection of uncurated apps. Mom won’t choose a tablet on specs, and neither will most consumers.
Apple did indeed explain what they meant, they just didn’t phrase it in terms that gadget geeks want to hear.
Yeah, jailbreaking fits exactly into that kind of thing that Apple couldn’t care less about. And the polished nature of this ad is exactly spot-on. It will reach the right people.
I didn’t notice whose voice it was, but Moe is right. Peter Coyote is the perfect choice. If people haven’t seen his acting, they need to add him to their Netflix queue. (Or Hulu or whatever.)
“Technology alone is not enough? I think Apple should explain this phrase more precisely. ”
It can’t possibly be explained any more precisely than it has been. The remainder of the commercial clearly explains the point Apple is making.
“It is like they are finally admitting that Motorola Xoom is actually better than iPad 2 in terms of specs. You have to agree with that one”
No, no one has to agree with that because it’s simply not true. And the point is driven home by the fact that neglecting to mention specs has you inventing a crisis claiming Apple is concerned about specs. But then you agree with the point of the commercial, so part of you “gets it”. The sooner we can grasp the concept that you cannot get any meaningful information concerning the usefulness of a device from specs, the sooner we can concentrate on meaningful questions about technology and what it should do for us. We can no better understand the usefulness of a technological device from a list of specs than we can determine the handling of a vehicle from a collection of numbers concerning horsepower and engine size.
Geeks will jailbreak. You don’t *need* a terminal on your tablet anyway. Nobody develops on a tablet.
Yeah i agree this.. All technology must have a faster, thiner, lighter.. Then only it becomes more delightful.. Apple advertisement is too nice.. Thanks for sharing this information..
This ad will reach the people who will appreciate the product–and buy it!
Well said!
Return? I don’t think Apple has ever been “away” from “Think different.” That spirit and attitude have been there all along, primarily in the mind and life of Steve Jobs. His Apple team are those who share that attitude for the most part–his customers, too.
It’s not strange at all. It’s the way I live and the way Apple products enhance my life.
“Technology alone is not enough? I think Apple should explain this phrase more precisely. It is like they are finally admitting that Motorola Xoom is actually better than iPad 2 in terms of specs.”
Wrong. You took it the wrong way. The ad is talking about the iPad’s technical attributes not being enough–that when technology gets out of the way is when the experience becomes magical.
I don’t think Apple cares much about its would-be competition.
We believe. I think, that is what the Customer believe too (including me). Good ad of another Think Different perspective. Apple has been trying to do that since the period of GUI – Graphics User Interface. Their vision or can I say, Steve’s, is always trying to make the ‘equipment’ more human in nature through the design, softwares and experience. As an example, my wife and son do not care much or zero knowledge on the specs inside my iPad. They just love the iPad everyday and how easy it is to run, play and enjoy every apps I had and googling the web. We believe, Apple is on the right track to spend their money in its R&D of ‘more human’ in their products and software… to be more magical.
@jaydot, i agree, and anyone who does not probably is a geek. No child of 4 years old is able to handle a Motorla Xoom or a Samsung Galaxy, but they can handle the iPad! People are not looking for the best specs, otherwise we all would drive a Ferrari. No sir, we are looking for functionality with “human” behaviour.
Need I say more?
It is true that you have to actually play with the thing to “get” it… it’s a very appealing little slab of electric crack. And also true that the geeks won’t be impressed, that crowd is all about the tech and specs and under the hood control and whatever “open” means this week.
But Apple the past few years hardly cares about that crowd, other than the designers and engineers working for THEM. They are pitching their highest tech at a predominantly consumer market, an audience that for the most part has the slimmest knowledge of what the specs might actually mean. Battery life, yes. Clock speed? Who cares, does it FEEL fast and responsive? But the user experience. Is it cool? Is it easy to get? Can you do cool (and possibly useful) stuff? Is it FUN? These are the marketing points they’re pitching to. The tech crowd actually glories in the very opposite of the things Apple emphasizes. The more complex, obscure and challenging, the more “L33T” a device is, and they’re happier.
I still have an issue with the casual use of “Magical” to describe a piece of what is still TECHNOLOGY. And yes you can quote back Authur C Clarke’s “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” But you know, we’re NOT a pack of knuckle dragging homo habilis shrieking and throwing rocks at the monolith, OK? So you kind of have to wonder what Apple thinks of their customers.
As I designer, I have to be in this day and age, something of a technologist… so I feel a little insulted.
“Technology alone is not enough? I think Apple should explain this phrase more precisely.”
While I do kind of follow the point they are tying to make. It’s still MARKETING SPEAK… and as such is NOT going to get any sort of peer-review scrutiny. It doesn’t even have to mean a gorram thing, although it would be better if it actually does have some explainable meaning.
But as a marketing phrase, all it *need* to do is create the appropriate EMOTIONAL response in it’s target audience.
“Zuum Zuum” don’t mean a bucket of soggy cheerios, but Mazda is selling a lotta cars with it….
No, we’re not a pack of knuckle-draggers, but do you think the average person on the street knows a PowerVR from a Tegra? Or how much RAM is needed to run a web browser or play a game? Yeah, not in a literal sense, but in an emotional sense. Especially given that a couple of decades ago, something this powerful at this size was only seen on Star Trek.
@SamuraiArtGuy, Don’t feel insulted.
I think you are right. Both worlds are important. Consumers can’t do without geeks and vice versa.
The point is that both worlds should realize this. And both worlds should realize that products are meant for specific audience.
It is quite obvious that the iPad is mainly targeting the consumer market. In fact, I cannot think of a tabletcomputer that would fit a geek. Let’s face it; geeks are looking for equipment that can help them to develop either software or program hardware. Both functionality is not easy to fit in a tablet. Let’s face it; a tablet is meant for people who would like to easily check their email, update their social networks and have some fun. A sales person is not going to create his slide show on an iPad. An accountant is not going to is financial administration on a tablet. They are going to use their ordinairy desktop.
In the end, in my opinion, a tablet is intended to make information available, not to reproduce information.
Fascinatingly logical argument, there 😉
You should feel pleased to witness the beginning of an age, in which computers cease to be obscure machines, whose secrets and are only accessible by select people, limiting the creative and constructive potential by those outside the aforementioned group.
Once non-geek — e.g. mere mortals — loose their fear of this “magicalis machine” we’re all going to benefit from it.
— At least once people have stopped desperately trying to make music in Garageband on the iPad 🙁