There has been much talk about the iPad, iPhone and other high-end smartphones recently which discusses them as killer devices that people must own. The iPad has been described as a device that has carved a market on its own and one that people simply must have, but the same could be said about smartphones. None of us need them, but we use them and once hooked it is difficult to wriggle away.
Apple is the true master at creating an object of technical desire and it goes way beyond the actual materials and innards. The marketing and fan base make each new release feel like an object which is more than a collection of circuits and metal; it becomes something else which is impossible to pinpoint. It is not just confined to Apple because the Nexus One and other high-end smartphones have received similar descriptions, so what is it exactly that causes us to spend £100’s on computers that we do not need?
I really do not know.
I bought an iPad because it made financial sense having been offered a freelance iPad related contract that is worth more than the asking price, but I may have bought one anyway. There is little doubt in my mind that the potential uses make it a worthy purchase (I won’t be buying a MacBook now) and that it is value for money, but what is that part of me that would want to buy it anyway? How can an inanimate piece of metal make me want it to a level that is not rational?
There is no answer to this question, but Apple has found it and is not telling us. It is just selling products that answer it for us and it is working much better than it could have ever expected. The strange thing is that the feeling stays with the individual and is passed on to other new products of desire; smartphones, laptops, vacuum cleaners (Dyson) and other products are being designed to cater to the emotional as well as the practical parts of our brains.
It is a new phenomenon, but likely one that will grow over time. The days of practical products are numbered and the likes of Nokia, RIM and HP had better understand the answer soon, or come up with a new one, to compete with the others in the near future.
We all have our vices huh? I couldn’t give a toss about diamonds for example, I’d sell them off to buy something I can use and which looks the part as well! Why does anyone buy this or that item of clothing with the special wee label on it? Quality, class, fashion, exclusivity, belonging? Humans want stuff. We get something, we’re happy and then we want something else. One of my kids picks up an old toy they haven’t looked at in two years, and before you know it world war three has broken out between them over it. Grown ups aren’t that much different methinks. But I am glad that products need to be more than practical. Our sign does seem to be our primary sense.