A certain phone device manufacturer dipped a toe into the tablet waters with an ugly black internet tablet.

It found the waters warm and inviting. There were a few unique fish who nibbled at the ugly tablet but the groupers and anchovies (any Spongebob fans here?) steered clear.

So the company followed with the release of another. They were hoping to increase the school of those unique fish.

Problem was that, unlike the ugly tablet, the new one looked sleek and inviting to the groupers and anchovies. So many of them bit. Then spit it out.

So the company pulled the toe out a bit, and slowed things down. They realized they weren't ready for the mainstream fishies yet. They needed to become so. But that would take a while; resources were short and mainly committed to other waters. The big ship did not steer so sharply.

So eventually that mainstream fish-pleasing tablet will come. Problem is, in the meantime it will become anyone's market. The lack of an updated keyboardless tablet equivalent will see to that.

Very sad. Can the company wow enough people with the eventual product?

: X

My experience as well and this is why I think that studying the iPhone is essential. Not because I would like the iPhone or would think that Nokia should imitate it, but because it was a game changer. It is one of those things where one should say: "wait a minute... hasn't Nokia had web-capable phones for the past 8 years? Haven't others tried the mobile web market for ages (Win mobile, Sharp Zaurus to name only 2) and failed miserably? Why did Apple succeed where the others failed?"

And no, you can't write that off on marketing hype only. Microsoft has poured incredible amounts of advertising money to generate hype about Windows CE / Pocket PC / Windows mobile for years only to fail miserably.

...and another thing. Those non-geek people Jerome talked about? The ones that need stuff printed? They're all getting replaced* by kids who spend hours and hours reading stuff on a screen, but never pick up a book unless they're forced to by a teacher.

Sure, technology moves toward a certain point, but people change to meet it, too. And if you don't or can't change, you end up obsolete. Things that seemed so important a few years ago to technology manufacturers now seem a little quaint, because the market has moved forward, too.

You've gotta be careful not to target today's market. It's like trying to shoot at a moving target; shoot towards where you think the market will be.

*this is a gentle and euphemistic way of putting it.

Perhaps the best selling feature of iPhone is "I want to be cool with a newer gadget than my peers." Apple knows how to make products cool. The N810 is high on the useful scale but never obtained the same level of cool.

Also, some of those described as "non-geeks" will never ever buy anything more technical than a dish washer. (Not only because they don't understand technology; more often because they don't want too much technology in their lives and don't have needs like 'mobile internet access'). You have to be careful not to target markets that are not realistic.

Interestingly, the only 2 people I know who own a jPhone are a Unix system administrator and a full-time web designer. Not exactly the "non-geek" market.

So my point is that when designing a product like an internet tablet that is a little geeky per definition, it's hardly useful to focus on the needs of people who will not buy it in the first place. All this "but we're geeks here, normal people wouldn't need this functionality"-noise here makes me believe some of us would like to sell the next tablet mainly to those who don't have TV, computers, internet-access etc. and should now embrace a new tablet as the first piece of electronics in their lives.

See my story above.

kinda like how apple dont sell hardware, they sell an experience?

This is true, but will still take the better part of the next 10 to 20 years. And trying to speed that process (the one with the star...) would be illegal, I think...

This is not true. Non geeks have a cell phone (billions sold) and a computer (hundred of millions sold). It is just that the computer does not really work, and collapses under the load of running spam-sending trojans, and the cell phone address list is empty.

An now, these same non-geeks are buying iPhones. This is the interesting change.

OK, i finally understood: I'm lying, you are always right and what you see in the munich underground is representative for all markets in the world.

I'm so thankful that my life was blessed by meeting somebody (if only online) who knows "the truth".

and made damn sure to tell anyone they can reach that microsoft products (or anything else PC for that matter. and yes, the paradox there is highly ironic. so is the dual layer of that two letter, as being politically correct is starting to seem more and more boring) are for graying men in suits.

lets not forget two things about the iphone.

first, the faithful had been blogging about the chance of something like that ever since nokia and others started putting mp3 players into phones.

second, the iphone is not the first. the first was a 100 song app inside a motorola rokr. it bombed so bad that i suspect anyone responsible for that inside apple is either buried in the basement or gone into hiding.

what makes the iphone the thing it is, is not the hardware, or the software, its the whole package, including itunes and itms. if one have owned a ipod before, and faithfully synced it with itunes so that both had learned the media tastes of the user, then popping in a iphone will be a seamless upgrade of capabilities.

they twisted the arm of at&t and others to get within reach of their main demographic (most winmob devices are burdened by business, not consumer, aimed plans).

and they made damn sure to have video demos of how "cool" it was to interact with the device, and at the same time showing of its capabilities. most other companies seems to leave it at "name dropping", expecting the customer to be up to speed on the "lingo".

its like they say about writing books, show, dont tell. or in other words, use descriptions of what happens in detail, not just boil it down to some dense words and leave it at that.

one wants to plant a image in the head of the user about how one "appears" when using something, not just explain what it can do in quick words like web, mail, video...

to pull out that old car comparison, iirc the number of people interested in car mods spiked after fast and the furious hit the theathers. most had no clue what they where doing, and looked directly silly in the eyes of the people in the know. but in their own heads they where vin diesel punching that nox button and yanking the gear stick.