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many people thought the iPad would fail [because] it's less capable than its seeming competition The success of the iPod and the Flip Video camera seems to dem
by jazzdev 16y ago
many people thought the iPad would fail [because] it's less capable than its seeming competition
The success of the iPod and the Flip Video camera seems to demonstrate that mainstream consumers prefer usability to capability.
The iPod wasn't the most capable MP3 player when it came out. But Flip Video is an even more dramatic example. An unknown company came out of nowhere and captured 13% of the video camera market in 6 months. And they were competing against Sony and Canon and Panasonic, some big, well established players. The first Flip had 6 buttons and no onscreen menus. Just 7 features (one button handled zoom while recording and volume during playback). The competition had at least twice as many features.
- Goladus 16y agoFeatures on something that takes pictures or records video is much different from features on a computer, though applications is generally a more common term for the variety of uses a PC can be put to. The long tail of what a computer can do is infinitely longer than the long tail of features on a camera. Maybe you're an architect and use CAD software, maybe you're a composer and need software that works with your synthesizers, maybe you're a scientist and use a bunch of customized development tools for research, maybe you play high-end video games, maybe you design playbills, maybe you're just a car enthusiast and use different CAD software from the architect I already mentioned. The list goes on. PCs are incredibly flexible in this way. A device that can't do the one thing you need it to do won't get bought. On cameras, usually the one thing is just: take nice pictures. If the one thing you really need a PC for isn't available from the App Store, usability doesn't matter at all.