危 wēi danger
Apple has built a strong reputation for launching products and services that help consumers meet their existing needs more effectively, for example storing and listening to music on the go. Its strength has been in building ecosystems of products, services and retail offers to optimize the consumer’s experience. Strong reputations lead to high expectations, commentators therefore view Apple’s product launches ultra-critically. Many industry commentators have been vocal in their disappointment with the iPad because it doesn’t clearly meet any existing consumer needs – has Apple lost its judgment?
机 jī opportunity
I don’t think so. Perhaps Apple has realized that it can’t predict and therefore drive all consumer behaviour changes. After all, when it launched the iphone it hadn’t planned the app store as it stands today, instead its skill was in reacting to the ‘hackers’ it saw developing applications by quickly offering them a forum and tools to exercise their creativity. The result has been the iphone is now used in ways Apple could never have dreamt of – a spirit level, a safety alarm and a credit card reader to name just a few. Given that, perhaps Apple has learnt that its greatest competitive advantage is in harnessing the creativity of its user-base and offering them the tools to develop the Apple offers of the future – effectively crowdsourcing new opportunities. Viewed through this lens the iPad looks like a blank canvas to me, a wonderful opportunity for Apple’s hacker community to seed new behaviours and grow new markets. With its lightweight design, large screen, fast processing speeds and ability to run iphone app’s, perhaps the iPad is an essential component to the hacker’s toolkit. The iPad as the new cookery book solution? The iPad as the magazine of tomorrow? The iPad as an interactive photo-frame? Probably none of the above, but fortunately for Apple they have kept their options open…
How About…
- Building modularity and flexibility into your products and services to enable consumer creativity?
- Harnessing that creativity to help drive your future offers?
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2 Responses to “38) Apple – iPad”
insurance adjuster
Big deal…I’m not sure the niche market for this type of thing will be big enough, but who knows…I have no use for one.
Giuseppe Mazey
Apple has once again built an amazing product that looks good and feels great in the hand , and the familiar user interface, borrowed from the iPhone and iPod touch, it is perfectly suited to the big screen. My 1st impressions of the iPad are largely positive, the new iPad whizzes along, you can open applications, resize web pages, and zooming in and out of maps almost instantaneously. I´m still waiting to test more, but the first tests are amazing. Best Regards, Giuseppe Mazey