Emotional Technology - Apple’s iPhone
Tuesday, January 16th, 2007I just finished reading this kind of a sappy emotional writeup about how/why a Wired reporter loves Apple so much. I’ve been thinking about this same theme - why do people feel so strongly about certain products, companies or services and literally hate others (competitors, etc), especially in the cold realm of technology? I agree with Momus (Wired writer) that everyone wants to be on a winning team and to be a part of something bigger, meaningful and important. He makes references to hints of spirituality in this era of features, buttons and hardware. People LOVE “meaning” over features. What was so interesting about last week was how MacWeek and CES competed side by side and literally no products from CES (MILLIONS of them) garnered any attention compared to the iPhone.
Engadget’s article about keynote presentations also shows an interesting point - that Job’s Keynote was a lot easier linguistically for people to understand. Jobs was at a fifth grade reading level, whereas Dell and Gates were talking to high school students. As far as appealing to emotions, Jobs clearly won hands down. He was easier to understand and his products, iPhone especially, solved emotionally charged issues (like WHY is my Smartphone so hard to use?)
After watching the presentation, I felt oddly compelled to finally post a series of complaints on a Treo blog (Treo vs iPhone) about all of the little annoying problems I’ve faced with the Treo. Problems I took for granted until the iPhone proved that I shouldn’t. What’s even weirder is the feeling of satisfaction I had once I properly vented.
It’s really quite amazing to think about how much emotional time we spend with our “screens” - my laptop and cellphone are around more than my kids. I associate my laptop with music (iTunes library), memories (iPhoto slideshows of our ski trip), news and information (CNN and blogs), and relaxation (missed episodes of favorite TV shows that got past my Tivo box). It connects me to people (email, iChat, iSight) and to my past conversations and future tasks (CRM system). These weird little tools are attaching themselves to every part of my day and are definitely NOT just pieces of hardware and software. So when the iPhone rolls out, I fully expect to feel yet another level deeper of a connection.
Microsoft recently rolled out the Zune with a tagline of “Welcome to the Social”, yet failed to offer a product or an experience that people actually care about. The process of making people feel more connected is REALLY tricky, but quite amazing when it’s done properly. So I commend Apple on yet another important milestone. Nicely done. Now release the phone, m’kay?
Regards,
Bill
