Lee Gomes: "What Apple has, and what Wintel badly needs, is a design tyrant like Steve Jobs."
– via Scripting News: 5/24/2006.
What *every* company needs is a design tyrant like Steve Jobs.
I’m surprised that tech companies haven’t figured this out at some point over the last 20 years or so…
Exhibit A – check out this advertisement from Commodore circa 1985:
(click for a larger image)
The big message?
- 128k memory.
- 80 column capability.
- 3000 programs.
- CP/M Mode. (wow!)
- Handy numeric keypad.
Exhibit B – check out this advertisement from Apple circa roughly the same time period:
(click for a larger image)
Apple’s big message?
- Make nice reports.
Apple (read Jobs) gets one thing right consistently. The marketing message is finely tuned to sell the consumer on the benefits, not the features, of the product. Design is simply one element of this message. Check out these three Apple product shots for a better understanding of what I’m talking about:
Exhibit C:
A Sexy computer sitting on a glossy surface circa 1986.
Exhibit D:
A Sexy computer sitting on a glossy surface circa 2006.
Exhibit E:
An Ugly POS sitting on a matte surface.
So what separates C and D from E? Steve Jobs was intimately involved with bringing the the IIe and the MacBook Pro to market. He had nothing, AFAIK, to do with the Newton. (Jobs left Apple in 1985 and the IIe was released in January ‘86. I have no doubt that what we saw in the marketplace with the IIe was one of his last contributions to Apple’s product line in the ‘80’s)
How was E sold in the marketplace? Just like the C128. For example, here’s some copy touting all the cool features of the MP 2k.
The MessagePad 2000 gives you more flexibility, thanks to its two PC slots (other handhelds have only one slot). So, for example, you can dedicate one to a wired or wireless modem and use the other for additional memory.How much can you do in three to six weeks? That’s how long a set of AA batteries lasts under normal usage. Note: normal usage here means a lot. Like having backlighting on, using the modem, crunching numbers, writing e-mail, droning, doodling, whatever.Built-in software lets you connect directly to a variety of serial, IrDA and LocalTalk® printers – unlike most Windows® CE devices, which have to be hooked up to a PC in order to print.There’s fast. And then there’s fast. The MessagePad 2000 comes with a screaming 160 MHz RISC processor, which offers up to five times the performance of the 20-40 MHz processors you get with other handheld devices.
A. Boring. List. Of. Features. A BLOF.
Why am I ranting about this? Building simplicity into an integrated marketing message was the topic of a talk I gave last week at ISPCon in Baltimore (David Isenberg gave a great keynote BTW). I’ve packed up my slides and uploaded them here if you want to check out the entire ramble. I’ve included my “script” as speakers notes to give you a rough idea of the words that went along with the pictures.
Getting “Integrated Simplicity” right is a big part of the plan with Domain Direct that we’re working up. I’ll definitely post more as our planning progresses.
