Experience by Design

Posted on June 19th, 2010 • Filed under Ramblings • View Comments

I recently watched Steve Jobs interview from the 2010 All Things D Conference put on by the Wall Street Journal. In this video several key things stuck out to me concerning the way Apple produces products.

Steve said in response to Walt Mossberg

We try to create the best products we possibly can.

While we can get into the whole business aspect of this statement lets look at it slightly different…

When you buy a product of any kind you are purchasing an experience. You expect to experience something from using or consuming that product. If is food you expect to enjoy it along with your empty stomach being filled. When you buy a tech product that same logic applies.

Most tech products have two major pieces to the equation, hardware and software. In the PC/Windows world you have hardware manufacturers and then Microsoft. When you buy a PC with Windows installed neither Microsoft nor the hardware manufacturer have full control over your experience with that product. Which in turn does not allow either to ensure your experience will be superb.

For instance if you have an operating system issue then the hardware manufacturer points the finger at Microsoft and vice versa. To a non tech savy consumer this is both confusing and frustrating because they see that computer as one product regardless of whose fault it is. They just want it to work but instead they are stuck in a “it is not our fault it is a software problem” battle.

Now back to Steve’s response…

If you are not aware Mac OS X can only run on Apple branded hardware. So when you buy a Mac you are buying a full package, the hardware and software as one. Many people say this is because Apple wants complete control of their hardware and software – and I agree…

But why does Apple want complete control?

I think the answer is simple – if you control all aspects of a system you can ultimately control the customer’s experience.

By doing this they are able to ensure that they create the best products possible and offer the consumer the best experience possible.

Apple designs the experience they envision.

Google TV navigation options (think etch-a-sketch)

Posted on June 17th, 2010 • Filed under Links, Tech Talk • View Comments

Google recently released a video showing how the interface for Google TV will look and work. While the concept of searching content from your DVR, Cable box, and web all at the same time is great one thing sticks out.
Watch the video to see if you notice it… starts around 1:15

Yes… There is a cursor [...]

Adobe’s OS X installers = Craptacular

Posted on June 16th, 2010 • Filed under Links • View Comments

Why is that Adobe thinks they should create a custom installer for OS X?

Apparently, Adobe saw fit to change out they made the Flash Player installer. It is now a .app. No problem I thought, because you can dig in the .app and find the Adobe Flash Player.pkg installer file.

So basically Adobe took the standard [...]