Although, I have seven computers in my house (it’s complicated) with only one being a Mac and the rest Linux and Windows machines – I am an Apple fan.
Having purchased several iPods over time, and proudly owning all three iteration of the iPhone, Apple makes wonderful products. Apple has the great ability to understand customer needs and translate cutting edge technology and beautiful design into great products. They don’t compromise cost cutting at the expense of user experience. Very impressive.
Living in the cross-hairs of publishing and digital, I am experiencing the pain of many stakeholders whose businesses are rapidly changing through the the intersection of digital content distribution, technological advancements, worldwide economic climate, and most importantly – evolving consumer media consumption habits. I suspect in the next 12 to 24 months there will be significant changes and I am excited to contribute in that evolution.
I will use this opportunity to focus on what I find the most interesting and important variable driving change – the evolution of consumer media consumption habits. As a strategic marketer I believe meeting customer needs makes or breaks a business. After having surveyed thousands and thousands of publishing consumers around their digital consumption tendencies, I can confidently say that digital is here to stay (duh,) and the migration from physical print to digital consumption is growing nicely. All good. Although, the fragmentation challenges this poses to media companies is quite high. From a content distribution device perspective, having a landscape of high quality choices for consumers to consume their content is important.
So, I will make it easy for Apple and tell them what consumers (or just me) want and why.
The iPhone (and other devices like it… Android, Palm, etc.) coupled with fast mobile data networks (sigh… AT&T, grrr) have created a great way for consumers to consume their digital media on the go. Quite frankly, many smartphone users argue that mobile email, search, facebook, twitter, etc. are much easier and faster on mobile devices, rather than at a computer screen. How many iPhone applications have been downloaded and used on a consistent basis? These enormous numbers tell an impressive quantitative story.
Net net – consumers want more mobile content and tools, want it faster, require reliability, and a seamless user experience. Personally, I believe the smartphone (iPhone, Palm, Blackberry, etc.) is limited by its size and relative horsepower.
Mr. Jobs – we need a high octane mobile media consumption device… PLEASE!
Think iPhone on steroids (larger and much more powerful.) Laptops are too bulky (even netbooks) clunky – so yesterday. And, although sales are soaring – the Kindle is limited.
To help you, Apple – here is my list of what is needed:
- Mobile (3/4G, WIFI/Bluetooth/Etc.) – An obvious one.
- Not Bulky – With the long list of items that follow below, bulk is a challenge that Apple will confront. I am confident they will balance a feature set against a great user experience.
- High Quality Touchscreen – navigating web pages, email, applications on a large touchscreen – mobile bliss.
- Large Bright Color Display – roughly 8″ x 6″ is a good size screen. However, I could be persuaded to go an inch or two larger.
- No Physical Keyboard – This will likely be a tough one from a user experience given the large size. However, I am confident Apple can figure this one out and there are many benefits to no physical keyboard.
- The Cloud – Some local fixed disk storage, yet seamlessly synchronized with the cloud so if the device is damaged or lost a consumer can just login and synchronize back to where they left off.
- Flash/Java/PDF/MS Office/Exchange/etc. support – needs to work as a replacement desktop without all the heavy overhead.
- Video – A must have.
- Tied-in with the Application Store/iTunes/etc. – a place where consumers can get all their media (movies, ebooks, music, YouTube video, etc.)
- NASA-Powered Battery Technology – needs to live for a full day for heavy users without charging.
- Processing and Memory Horsepower – One of the things I like about Apple is the way it accurately powers devices based upon what runs on them… something Windows could learn from. This device needs to have a good balance of processing/memory/architecture/etc. so that it is slightly overpowered for what exists today. This allows for application developers to build for the future and run well on the device.
- Flexible Business Model – This is an unlikely one, yet I would like to see Apple figure out a way for consumers to get this device with very low or no upfront fees. This lowers the barrier to what is likely to be an expensive device. Device penetration is a key driver in a ubiquitous content ecosystem, thus allowing favorable pricing and margins for everyone.
- A “Much More” Friendly and Open Commercial Relationship with Content Providers – Another unlikely request, yet one I believe is a smart long-term choice for all stakeholders. My suggestion is that Apple be confident in their great product development expertise and make it their mission to help publishers find ways to merchandise (in a distributed way) their content, thus making fair margin on their copyright. A more open approach to pricing, sharing of sales data, and not requiring all transactions to happen in iTunes.
What else is missing from the perfect mobile device?
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