Christmas, Reindeer and Apple
December 27, 2005, 8:32 pm
So it was with a tinge of guilt that I perpetuated the myth of Father Christmas on Saturday night. I lied to my two year old daughter. Not a small untruth but a big whopper. I told her that a large man was going to come down our chimney and give here presents. But the lie was not just in my words, it was in the whole experience. She left mince pies and beer out for Santa – no sherry in the house) and apples for the reindeer. And the following morning the beer was drunk, the pies scoffed, crumbs on the floor and the apples had large bites taken from them. And she took it hook line and sinker. “Wow! Thank-you Santa” India shouted up the chimney.
It was the apples that completed the experience “didn’t you hear the reindeer on the roof last night mummy?” And later in the day another Apple experience. Lindsey got an iPod Nano. Like India’s Christmas experience being more than just the presents left by Santa, the iPod experience is more than just the physical device (small and sexy as it is). It begins with the box – not just a box but a package that speak the Apple brand. Formed like a cardboard CD container, the iPod sits in a recess on one side with the cables and CD in a carton the other side. The cables are kept tidy not by ties but by a purpose designed plastic plug cover / gripper. The headphone covers are in individual sachets. All very designed. All very cool.
I assumed the iPod would require charging before it would work. No, it is ready charged – ready to go. And then the iPod interface being so simple and intuitive to use meant that the experience from no-iPod to iPod-pro was seamless, as though we’ve always used iPods. Compare this to the iRiver I’ve got, with an interface I still haven’t got to grips with. I’m now sold on the Apple brand. Yes, the product is good, but it is the little things around it that make the difference.
And so it should be with software. Not just an application but a total, compelling experience from installation to daily use.