Conference Notes: Tabula Rasa: iPad Throwdown

Tabula Rasa: iPad Throwdown

We Media

4/29/2010

Wemedia.com/tablet

USER EXPERIENCE

· iPad demographics mirror early iPhone demographics: SF, LA, NYC. Skews male, techy, wealthy -- “boys with toys.”

· Huffington post took 400+ pics of kids in Mac store on the day the iPad was released. The kids in the pictures exhibit “pure joy”. But adults seem more skeptical. What unique feature does it offer that I can’t get elsewhere? How will I carry this along with everything else I carry around with me? What covering/ case do I need to buy to protect it, what cables to charge it…?

· Form factor: more intimate/ close than laptop, more escapist/ playful (not a workstation).

· Recessive?

o User experience is ‘consume’, not ‘create’. iPad is not a device that gathers content, but gives you content – ‘shovelware’ a la 1990s.

o Poorest and most wealthy of the world are and will increasingly be mobile users. Mobile thus disrupts feudal power on many levels – the wealthy few are no longer the controlling power – they are neither the prime audience, nor the prime content/ utility makers.

o As Apple disrupted the feudal power/ walled gardens lorded over by the carriers, we can expect something to disrupt the closed systems Apple creates. Android, something else… ?

o Lack of camera is a disappointment. Tech users expect cameras in free phones, simple photo editing on cameras.

o (Current) lack of multitask is a disappointment. Not built for productivity, but users multitask in all aspects of their lives and expect multitasking from their devices. Implies a less flexible device.

o “I don’t see the need. I bought it and returned it and my 18 yr old said ‘I told you so.’”

o iPad as starting line, not finish line for tablets.

· A ‘companion’ experience -- a supplement to iPhone, TV, laptop (does not replace any of these).

· A further expansion of ubiquitous connectivity -- and a look into the possibilities/ challenges that ensue. What does ‘local’ mean now?

· Different kinds of social permission. You can bring the iPad more places than you would bring your laptop, battery life is longer.

· eBooks average use time: iPhone = 10 min, iPad = 30 min -- but iPad is used in less locations.

· User feedback: firms are wise to encourage and gather user feed back on iTunes as well as seed YouTube with ‘press releases’ (new content promos/ introductions to redesigns) and gather feedback from comments.

INTERACTION DESIGN

· It’s interesting to see how Apple describes the iPad. For early Apps, developers dissected every frame of both of these videos to inform design on a device they had never used:

o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBhYxj2SvRI

o http://www.youtube.com/user/Apple?feature=pyv&ad=4586558836&kw=apple%20ipad#p/u/0/1-YAQ1wfNqc

· Mobile, social, multi-touch as the game changer -- not the device as game changer. Multidimensional, 3D experience.

· Universal Apps – if you have the iPhone App and plug in your iPad, you automatically get an iPad version. Apps built for iPhone on iPad are not satisfying/ don’t repurpose iPhone designs.

· “Content by itself is not an App.” Do better than Time Magazine’s lame offering -- don’t give me a DVD with pdfs thrown in.

· Important to feel native -- not feel too webby, or too radio (ex: NPR), or too magazine-y, iPhone-y.

· Flatter navigation than iPhone Apps.

· Some crossovers on layout/ controls for iPhone to make users comfortable.

· Popovers to navigate.

· Tap-in to select.

· Use big easy to use target sizes even for adults

· Retrain writers to avoid browser control copy (click here for…).

· Page based architecture becomes stream based -- but how to search, link, communicate?

· Internal Crossovers:

o Link anything that can conceptually link. Kill off/ watch the blue underline die.

o Design for re-subscription, purchasing related apps from within the app.

· External Crossovers:

o Unlike web, app has a ‘beginning’ and ‘end’, not 600 links outward.

· Android is more open, bigger audience than iPad, though diverse device/ screen sizes/ inputs.

· Touch and drag to create your own playlists

· ‘verticals’ like Newsweek or SI now seem wide, compared to niche content

· Use HTML5 + CSS + Javascript to make iPad friendly sites rather than iPad Apps. Circumvents Apple walled garden; gets you on android, smartphones, across devices, screen sizes, different inputs; same workflow as the rest of your website.

· More on the Flash issue: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/.

BUSINESS RULES

· Business rules for iPad are far more structured than for web. Steve Jobs owns the controlling share of decisions, limitations, possibilities, etc.

· Crux of the business opportunity: 125M Apple users w/ their credit card out who are one tap away from purchase/s.

· For launch, most developers ‘took aim at the wall to see what might stick’ -- what rules, models, pricing work?

o Web advertising is on tenterhooks, mobile ads are in infancy -- how can the iPad support itself?

o The web taught users “the only good price for content is free” and to shop for physical product online (Amazon, groceries). Media companies (journalists in particular) are trying to capitalize on un-established pricing expectations as well as paid content in iTunes precedent to identify viable business models, recapture financial stability.

o iAd: 40% rev share with Apple.

o ‘Freemium’: a “free until…” metered approach where frequent users pay (Pandora, NYT). Many suggested would be the next ‘big’ business model.

o Private label content (sponsorship): NPR recouped iPad costs in sale in 7wks via premium underwriting (sponsorship via Oracle and Bose).

o Subscription model is coming back, but tech/ pricing still not gelled.

o One-time purchase to remove all ads.

SHOWCASE

· Popular Science: ‘Mag+’ is interactive magazine iPad authorware created for Popular Science by their media firm, Berg. For sale for magazine publishers. Goal: like a magazine, interactive magazines should feel interface-less. Features: 2 finger swipe to jump sections, dog ear to bookmark, agnostic to orientation (horizontal/ vertical safe space), 1 story per page rather than scan the page of stories (in magazine or on web page), 2 layer parallax visuals.

· ESPN: niche utility. Took core use case of website (score checking) to make iPhone App with 1 tap access. 600 feedback msgs day collected from fans. iPad App offers more personalization, more content, more context (images, news). Interface paradigms:

· NPR: App features: gridded modules, sliding carousels, persistent video player controls in a bottom nav. Design process: 2 wks. Kick off to launch: 5 wks.

· Zagats: Search, sort, filter on real time Google Map (not unlike Panwapa Map prototype). Purchase for one year, re-buy next year’s edition within the App.

· Beatpad: Beatbox for iPad (walkman for iPhone). Thumping speakers, perfect for putting on your shoulder and walking down the street, perfect to put in a stand, hook up to speakers and rock out to at parties. 8track to come.