8 ms·

Why time stands still at 9:42 on iPhone/iPad ads

138 points by spif 17y ago

enjo 17y ago
After listening to the interview with the SmugMug guy yesterday, and now this... it's really quite amazing just how deeply Apple thinks about these big product launches. The desk has to to be at the perfect angle. The lighting just right. The time on the device has to by synced. I'm not really a big Apple fan (I personally have had a lot of trouble with their products), but I am taking away one important lesson: When it comes to promoting your product, every single detail is important.
- tel 17y ago
  Not just when promoting.
- mishmash 17y ago
  "Designed by Apple in California."
  - jrockway 17y ago
    They omit "Built by Children in China" though, for some reason.
    - bfung 17y ago
      This one hit close to home, actually. My cousin who lives in hong kong (can almost be considered a baby sister) was always at the top of her class when she was little. Something happened between then and now, she's a teenager, and she's dropped out of tougher schools to go to an easier one that trains specifically for computer assembly (kinda like getting a degree in ASP.NET or J2EE), so that she can work for an apple assembly facility (the school has ties w/apple apparently) =\ maybe she's just being a teenager, but it's worrisome.
    - deleted 17y ago
      [deleted]
      - jrockway 17y ago
        Excellent name.
- abstractbill 17y ago
  I am taking away one important lesson: When it comes to promoting your product, every single detail is important. In the SmugMug interview Chris said he doubted anyone had noticed the angle of the desk. I'm not sure I would take away the same lesson as you to be honest.
  - spoondan 17y ago
    But design is as much about "hiding" things incidental to the experience as it is about calling attention to the things you want people to notice. Subtle elements of the design may not rise to conscious awareness but still have an effect on how people perceive the experience.
    - abstractbill 17y ago
      Subtle elements of the design may not rise to conscious awareness but still have an effect on how people perceive the experience. Right, the desk orientation may have subconsciously influenced people, for sure - I'm quite ok with that claim. But nobody knows if it did. Hell, it might have negatively influenced people for all anybody actually knows.
oostevo 17y ago
This isn't entirely related, and it's for a totally different reason, but analog watches in advertisements almost always read the same thing, too: 10:10.[1] Supposedly it's because the watch hands form a 'smile', and this is supposed to evoke feelings of happiness in potential buyers.[2] I'd never noticed it before, but ever since someone pointed it out to me, I've noticed it in _every single_ watch ad I've seen. [1] http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/intel/08/01/31_eliandtom2_lg.jpg http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/intel/08/01/31_eliandtom2_lg... [2] http://www.ubr.com/clocks/frequently-asked-questions-faq/clocks-and-time-faq-10-10-hand-positions.aspx http://www.ubr.com/clocks/frequently-asked-questions-faq/clo...
- leftnode 17y ago
  I've heard it also cradles the logo of the watchmaker so your eyes are drawn to it (which the second link also mentions too).
- rokhayakebe 17y ago
  5:01 would work best: Time to go home.
- rbritton 17y ago
  Today's woot reaffirms this: http://www.woot.com/ http://www.woot.com/
  - Mark_B 17y ago
    Woo hoo! 10:10 = "Happy Time"
  - ruchi 17y ago
    One of them shows 10 to 2 still a smiley face though.
  - mcantor 17y ago
    Irony: TODAY's woot is a digital picture frame with a photograph of someone looking absolutely miserable.
- 17y ago
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
tobtoh 17y ago
I think one of the reasons for Apple's famed 'ease of use' is because they do put a lot of attention to the details. When I read stories like this one, it it reminds me of the story about Van Halen and the 'no brown M&Ms clause' in their contracts (http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp). Both are indicators that someone/a business is paying attention to the details.
- kalid 17y ago
  Exactly. You don't improve by parroting details like this in your own presentations, you want to gain the mindset that would make you care about having such detail.
- elblanco 17y ago
  And yet....http://fontfeed.com/archives/ipad-typography/ http://fontfeed.com/archives/ipad-typography/
  - tptacek 17y ago
    And yet what, a typography blog disagrees with Apple's type choices? How slipshod of Apple.
    - elblanco 17y ago
      The point is that having some kind of reason for the clock's time in advertisements elicited all kinds of oohs and ahhs from the Apple fanboy crowd, "wow, no wonder everything Apple puts out is made out of unicorn farts, if they are this careful about this kind of insignificant detail." And yet typography, one of Apple's most important differentiators, the one that put them on the map, that sustained the company for years among the graphic artist and desktop publishing industry, and probably one of the most important reasons the company is around today and didn't die off in the 90's, is in shambles on theses platforms. In other words, Apple cares about the appearance of attention to detail without actually caring about the actual substance. And as the blog post notes, Microsoft of all companies has actually taken some time and effort to improve their typography. Sure, Microsoft's font efforts are not nearly up to Apple's old standards, but then again, neither is Apple (as we see). So long as people like yourself continue to overlook these kinds of differentiators, Apple will continue to de-emphasize them in their development efforts and instead appeal to the people who care about things being shiny than actually well thought out. They may as well just fire the entire development staff and release a block of pyrite and sell it for $1200 at Best Buy. It will be released at a keynote, with a list of bulleted features. The inability to do anything with it will be one of those bullets. Fanboy blogs will carry on slavishly for years about how Apple carefully designed their pyrite product to fit the lifestyles of real people like them. And that the missing features, like actually doing anything, are the result of careful design activities by Jonathan Ive. Breathless commercials touting the shape of the block, how it just "fits" in the palm of your hand and was polished to a perfect shine by teams of Iraqi orphans, and how Jonathan Ive had a revelation and realized that it "should just be all bezel" will air during the Superbowl and the Olympics, "iPyrite, think shiny." It will be followed a year later with a 50% price reduction and a new version at $1400, in an ever so slightly differently shaped block, and have a dazzler light attachment you can buy at the Apple store for $39.99. It'll be called the iPyrite 2GS. Some people will try to "jailbreak" their iPyrites by just shooting themselves up directly with heroin and bleach. But Apple will spend %20-30 of their revenue funding police departments and counter drug authorities to lock those people up. Fanboy blogs will carry on asking questions like why anybody would want to jailbreak their iPyrite. It's clearly the best product in the mineral class. Jailbreaking will just ruin Apple's carefully designed user experience ecosystem and make Jonathan Ive (yes you have to say his full name every time) cry.
ugh 17y ago
Apple introduced iCal on July 17, 2002. Now guess which date the default icon shows :)
- ComputerGuru 17y ago
  Ever since 10.5? Today's date.
  - Frazzydee 17y ago
    Today's date shows in the dock, but check out the icon in the Applications folder: http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~f2damji/Screen%20shot%202010-04-08%20at%205.47.39%20PM.png http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~f2damji/Screen%20shot%202010-04-...
  - ugh 17y ago
    It’s getting harder to see the default icon, that’s right. I don’t even know whether there is any sort of default icon for the calendar on the iPhone (I think it’s always just displaying the current date).
- Frazzydee 17y ago
  iWork '09 was released in January 2009. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/06iwork.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/06iwork.html But why does the Keynote icon show Q4 2009?
JeanPierre 17y ago
It's quite neat that they work this into the product launch. I was really hoping the real answer were partly because they've read good literature though. Some sort of guide for hitchhikers maybe?
siong1987 17y ago
This might be a bit off topic. If you have read the book "Yes!", the book mentions that caffeine helps a lot if you try to persuade someone. And, the effect of caffeine kicks in after about 40 mins you consume it. In other words, if Apple provides free coffee to all the attendees for the event, it will be easier for Apple to convince the audience that they just launch one of the best product in the world about 40mins after the event starts (when the effect of caffeine kicks in). http://www.google.com/search?q=caffeine+40+mins+persuasion http://www.google.com/search?q=caffeine+40+mins+persuasion
- mahipal 17y ago
  That's a good observation -- I wouldn't put it past them. I think the relevant psychological principle is "transfer of excitation." Apparently it's pretty obscure, but here's an article about it: http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6426/Arousal-Processes-and-Media-Effects.html http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6426/Arousal-Pr...

138 points by spif 17y ago

enjo 17y ago

After listening to the interview with the SmugMug guy yesterday, and now this... it's really quite amazing just how deeply Apple thinks about these big product launches. The desk has to to be at the perfect angle. The lighting just right. The time on the device has to by synced. I'm not really a big Apple fan (I personally have had a lot of trouble with their products), but I am taking away one important lesson: When it comes to promoting your product, every single detail is important.

tel 17y ago
Not just when promoting.
mishmash 17y ago
"Designed by Apple in California."
- jrockway 17y ago
  They omit "Built by Children in China" though, for some reason.
  - bfung 17y ago
    This one hit close to home, actually. My cousin who lives in hong kong (can almost be considered a baby sister) was always at the top of her class when she was little. Something happened between then and now, she's a teenager, and she's dropped out of tougher schools to go to an easier one that trains specifically for computer assembly (kinda like getting a degree in ASP.NET or J2EE), so that she can work for an apple assembly facility (the school has ties w/apple apparently) =\ maybe she's just being a teenager, but it's worrisome.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
    - jrockway 17y ago
      Excellent name.
abstractbill 17y ago
I am taking away one important lesson: When it comes to promoting your product, every single detail is important. In the SmugMug interview Chris said he doubted anyone had noticed the angle of the desk. I'm not sure I would take away the same lesson as you to be honest.
- spoondan 17y ago
  But design is as much about "hiding" things incidental to the experience as it is about calling attention to the things you want people to notice. Subtle elements of the design may not rise to conscious awareness but still have an effect on how people perceive the experience.
  - abstractbill 17y ago
    Subtle elements of the design may not rise to conscious awareness but still have an effect on how people perceive the experience. Right, the desk orientation may have subconsciously influenced people, for sure - I'm quite ok with that claim. But nobody knows if it did. Hell, it might have negatively influenced people for all anybody actually knows.

oostevo 17y ago

This isn't entirely related, and it's for a totally different reason, but analog watches in advertisements almost always read the same thing, too: 10:10.[1] Supposedly it's because the watch hands form a 'smile', and this is supposed to evoke feelings of happiness in potential buyers.[2] I'd never noticed it before, but ever since someone pointed it out to me, I've noticed it in _every single_ watch ad I've seen. [1] http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/intel/08/01/31_eliandtom2_lg.jpg http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/intel/08/01/31_eliandtom2_lg... [2] http://www.ubr.com/clocks/frequently-asked-questions-faq/clocks-and-time-faq-10-10-hand-positions.aspx http://www.ubr.com/clocks/frequently-asked-questions-faq/clo...

leftnode 17y ago
I've heard it also cradles the logo of the watchmaker so your eyes are drawn to it (which the second link also mentions too).
rokhayakebe 17y ago
5:01 would work best: Time to go home.
rbritton 17y ago
Today's woot reaffirms this: http://www.woot.com/ http://www.woot.com/
- Mark_B 17y ago
  Woo hoo! 10:10 = "Happy Time"
- ruchi 17y ago
  One of them shows 10 to 2 still a smiley face though.
- mcantor 17y ago
  Irony: TODAY's woot is a digital picture frame with a photograph of someone looking absolutely miserable.
17y ago

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

tobtoh 17y ago

I think one of the reasons for Apple's famed 'ease of use' is because they do put a lot of attention to the details. When I read stories like this one, it it reminds me of the story about Van Halen and the 'no brown M&Ms clause' in their contracts (http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp). Both are indicators that someone/a business is paying attention to the details.

kalid 17y ago
Exactly. You don't improve by parroting details like this in your own presentations, you want to gain the mindset that would make you care about having such detail.
elblanco 17y ago
And yet....http://fontfeed.com/archives/ipad-typography/ http://fontfeed.com/archives/ipad-typography/
- tptacek 17y ago
  And yet what, a typography blog disagrees with Apple's type choices? How slipshod of Apple.
  - elblanco 17y ago
    The point is that having some kind of reason for the clock's time in advertisements elicited all kinds of oohs and ahhs from the Apple fanboy crowd, "wow, no wonder everything Apple puts out is made out of unicorn farts, if they are this careful about this kind of insignificant detail." And yet typography, one of Apple's most important differentiators, the one that put them on the map, that sustained the company for years among the graphic artist and desktop publishing industry, and probably one of the most important reasons the company is around today and didn't die off in the 90's, is in shambles on theses platforms. In other words, Apple cares about the appearance of attention to detail without actually caring about the actual substance. And as the blog post notes, Microsoft of all companies has actually taken some time and effort to improve their typography. Sure, Microsoft's font efforts are not nearly up to Apple's old standards, but then again, neither is Apple (as we see). So long as people like yourself continue to overlook these kinds of differentiators, Apple will continue to de-emphasize them in their development efforts and instead appeal to the people who care about things being shiny than actually well thought out. They may as well just fire the entire development staff and release a block of pyrite and sell it for $1200 at Best Buy. It will be released at a keynote, with a list of bulleted features. The inability to do anything with it will be one of those bullets. Fanboy blogs will carry on slavishly for years about how Apple carefully designed their pyrite product to fit the lifestyles of real people like them. And that the missing features, like actually doing anything, are the result of careful design activities by Jonathan Ive. Breathless commercials touting the shape of the block, how it just "fits" in the palm of your hand and was polished to a perfect shine by teams of Iraqi orphans, and how Jonathan Ive had a revelation and realized that it "should just be all bezel" will air during the Superbowl and the Olympics, "iPyrite, think shiny." It will be followed a year later with a 50% price reduction and a new version at $1400, in an ever so slightly differently shaped block, and have a dazzler light attachment you can buy at the Apple store for $39.99. It'll be called the iPyrite 2GS. Some people will try to "jailbreak" their iPyrites by just shooting themselves up directly with heroin and bleach. But Apple will spend %20-30 of their revenue funding police departments and counter drug authorities to lock those people up. Fanboy blogs will carry on asking questions like why anybody would want to jailbreak their iPyrite. It's clearly the best product in the mineral class. Jailbreaking will just ruin Apple's carefully designed user experience ecosystem and make Jonathan Ive (yes you have to say his full name every time) cry.

ugh 17y ago

Apple introduced iCal on July 17, 2002. Now guess which date the default icon shows :)

ComputerGuru 17y ago
Ever since 10.5? Today's date.
- Frazzydee 17y ago
  Today's date shows in the dock, but check out the icon in the Applications folder: http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~f2damji/Screen%20shot%202010-04-08%20at%205.47.39%20PM.png http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~f2damji/Screen%20shot%202010-04-...
- ugh 17y ago
  It’s getting harder to see the default icon, that’s right. I don’t even know whether there is any sort of default icon for the calendar on the iPhone (I think it’s always just displaying the current date).
Frazzydee 17y ago
iWork '09 was released in January 2009. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/06iwork.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/06iwork.html But why does the Keynote icon show Q4 2009?

JeanPierre 17y ago

It's quite neat that they work this into the product launch. I was really hoping the real answer were partly because they've read good literature though. Some sort of guide for hitchhikers maybe?

siong1987 17y ago

This might be a bit off topic. If you have read the book "Yes!", the book mentions that caffeine helps a lot if you try to persuade someone. And, the effect of caffeine kicks in after about 40 mins you consume it. In other words, if Apple provides free coffee to all the attendees for the event, it will be easier for Apple to convince the audience that they just launch one of the best product in the world about 40mins after the event starts (when the effect of caffeine kicks in). http://www.google.com/search?q=caffeine+40+mins+persuasion http://www.google.com/search?q=caffeine+40+mins+persuasion

mahipal 17y ago
That's a good observation -- I wouldn't put it past them. I think the relevant psychological principle is "transfer of excitation." Apparently it's pretty obscure, but here's an article about it: http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6426/Arousal-Processes-and-Media-Effects.html http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6426/Arousal-Pr...