Apple steps up iPad 2 campaign to push functionality over hardware specifications - Page 4

Lisa... Why does that sound familiar?

Simple to get a machine with better specs!!!!!!

It is silly to say specs don't manner when millions passed up iPad one to wait for the improved model. This has nothing to do with the competition. It has every thing to do with the perception that iPad was a very rev one device and was wanting performance wise.


Ultimately you can not know what a device will do for you without knowing a bit about what is inside. The lack of RAM on iOS devices is a very sneaky limitation because it effects the ability of apps to do what you expect of them. Not being able to open large PDFs on older devices is an example here.

A well-made ad (in ways noted by others below), but, hey, I dunno. Just for K&G I could see some entertaining, "Hi, I'm an iPad"/"I'm a Xoom" (or Tablet) ads. With the first focusing on Xoom's trying to find some native apps for one of its needs.

As for casting... ...how about a campaign using the distaff side this time? A slightly warmer, slightly less snarky woman for the iPad (who looks/acts fully magical/functional/lithe/smooth and appeals to men and women), and as for the competition, say, a rather clumsy, "mechanicalish" android with a tendency to start spouting "GHz, USB" and other tech gibberish out of context.

(Some of you probably have much better [and funnier] suggestions. I'm losing touch with pop culture, alas.)

Which reminds me, why hasn't Lucas Films filed for trademark infringement on the little greed droid icon's obvious resemblance to R2D2? Or, wait, didn't I read somewhere that have they been compensated for the "droid" name already?



I like the "we believe" notion - unless it's overplayed/overworked and the tone becomes either too syrupy or overbearing. And even if it's a mainstay, Apple needs other ads that are playful, entertaining and show the fun factor of their products. Geico gets the need for variety - it's why they regularly rest the Gecko and sometimes step entirely out of their general format. (But I still know better than to buy insurance from them, FWIW.)

I also like that the campaign's also a subtle step toward the day when Apple will need to be seen as a coherent enterprise - with a positive identity and philosophy of its own - in a coming post-Jobs era.

Supplies are limited, so don't delay. Order in the next ten minutes and we'll include the free water bottle, a $19.95 value absolutely free. Offer void in Montana and Idaho.

Ooops.... I'm just getting my iPads all mixed up...

It's funny though that a one-year old machine with 1/4 the memory and 1/2 the number of CPU's can smack the "best" Android tablet and make the XOOM tablet look like something with an obesity problem.

The tech-heads with their typical arrogance that all regular users are too stupid to use a "real" computer spin the specs like it really matters in today's era of fast CPU's. If a half-backed OS like Android requires that much horsepower to barely keep up with an "old" model, then Android is the equivalent of a Gas-guzzling SUV and the tech-heads are trying to put lipstick on it and label it a Ferrari.

Note to techheads, nerds, and geeks... your beliefs in what the market should be doesn't mean squat. Continuing to kick and scream about the direction mobile computing is heading just proves it even more.

This is the impression that I get of WP7following all of those things on the home screen in "tiles". It looks like a good idea, but I can't help thinking it's got to be very graphics-intensivelike Cover Flow only worse.

Without having used a WP7 phone (so I could be all wet), it looks like an addition to the 25-year tradition of Microsoft software writing checks no existing hardware can cash.

I hope so, but sadly I think Steve Jobs is bored of the Mac

After using Windows for over 20 years I can honestly say using IOS is an experience that is highlighted by Functionality, ease of use and Integration. I used to concentrate on the quality of the hardware when in reality it's all about the functionality and ease of use. Windows forgot about the customer Long ago while Apple strives to improve its IOS constantly.not only is Apple improving their operating system they are are creating the infastructure we will all use in one way or another
It takes time to create believers and users however Apple has achieved that task by innovation and ease of use

Well, I have to disagree. I saw the Honeycomb screen on the Xoom and thought it was too busy, too complex a UI that only geeks could love. I get it--it's like something out of Minority Report--but if I were building a tablet for non-geeks (my mom, for example), I wouldn't subject them to such an intimidating, busy home screen. The paradigm is simple: the home screen is where your apps live and it is how you launch them. It doesn't do anything else. Simplicity and focus.

Yes, in thinking about it after I posted I came to much the same conclusion.

I still think there is room in there for *one* ad where the gender issue is addressed if only because the Android adverts are so terribly, obviously, and continually gender biased towards young men. I think it would be funny to rip on that fact with an Apple ad that shows a middle-aged woman besting the lot of them with her iPad, but maybe that's just me.

What anyone here thinks about Apple's ad campaign is unlikely to make any difference at all though, and Apple is about as far from a gender biased company as one could get in today's world anyway.

Number one it tells me if I can open documents that are to large for my older iOS devices.
Two it gives me an idea about how quickly the model will become outdated.

Which is one of the reasons I have yet to get an iPad. The original did not have the capacity I needed. It is pretty simple really if a PDF does not open on an older device but does on one with 512MB of RAM then you pretty much should realize that knowing the installed RAM is critical to knowing if the device will work for you.

In any event this question is so ignorant that I'd suggest learning a bit about computer architecture for one. Second learn a little bit about what iPad one couldn't do due to the lack of RAM. If you understood what was going on you wouldn't be happy with Apple either.

Agreed, at this point the target of iPad2 in US is mostly the baby-boomers, and they definitely won't be intested in the iPad2 if they've to manually set up the home screen. Actually for a lot of them, even folders and multitasking are too difficult, and they'd never use those functionalities.

Another alias, teckstud? Don't you ever get tired of it all?

I agree. My guesstimate is that this will all change when or shortly after the new datacenter is fully functional and online.

I have to disagree. I am a high school science teacher and I am continually amazed at how little students know about their home computers and technology in general. I don't have any hard facts documented but I talk current science/tech to them each Friday and I am very confident that more than half of the students I teach don't even know the size of their hard drives. Which I'd argue to be the most relevant and easiest to understand computer spec there is. What does that say about this 'tech savvy' generation? Specs don't matter, what can I do with it does.

I'm inclined to think that millions didn't pass up the iPad1. They simply didn't know what it was or how it could be incorporated into their lives.

I am very happy with Apple. I either buy or don't buy their products based on what they are designed to do, not on what I wish they would do. If you need a computer (laptop, desktop or whatever) buy a computer. Don't expect any mobile OS device (iPad, Xoom etc.) to have the memory or capability to do the tasks, jobs to fully replace your computer.

Or just contrasting the quality of the apps-- putting up Garageband or iMovie or Omnigraffle or Sketchbook Pro or one of the Tapbot apps against anything performing those functions on Android. Android for tablets will continue to accrue apps, I just don't think many of them will be much more than adequate.


Wouldn't that be a miracle? An ad for a piece of consumer electronics that used a middle-aged woman who wasn't a steely CEO striding purposefully through the airports of the world (not that that character is actually allowed to be much out of her 30s).



Agreed. If overplayed, "we believe" could start to feel like those transparently fatuous financial services ads where they're trying to con you into believing they represent some kind of foundational values of thrift, determination and generosity. As you say, cloying.

But a pretty straightforward articulation of what Apple's about (the stuff Steve articulates in keynotes but for some reason they've never picked up on for advertising)-- that putting the user experience first, and making sure all the parts support the user experience, before and after the point of purchase-- would be a pretty good thing for Apple to do.


Good point, and that may have something to do with this ad at this time. In a way, it would be like what Disney did after Walt died-- turn his legacy into a vibe that you make sure is always part of the branding (I'm talking about advertising strategies here, not the relative merits of any particular individual or company, so no need to remind about Walt's many personal shortcomings or the various crimes of his namesake).

At any rate, Apple could really use a public persona that extends beyond "Steve's personal plaything", and this is probably a good time to start laying the foundation. "We believe" moves beyond the "I" in what Steve believes to a more general corporate philosophy. It's not hard to imagine an ad that has something along the lines of "Here at Apple, we've always strived for one simple thing" sort of VO coupled with a nice historic overview of their wares, bringing us forward to the present, but just ending with "Apple" and the logo instead of any particular product.

There are multiple tradeoffs that the manufacturer needs to consider. Sure they can put in just the amount of ram that will make you happy - but if that is going to cost $2000 you are not going to be buying it anyway. Do you want a 3 Ghz processor and retina display and sd card slot with that as well?

I thought I was very clever and ordered a quad core 1080p Dell studio 15 last year - only after I started using it did I realize that the darn thing runs so hot it should not be classified as a laptop and the battery lasts maybe 1 hour. I think I am done with the HPs and dells and will stick to Apple for now as they seem to make good tradeoffs for the customer.

Very important point. There's a tendency to assume "young people" are tech gurus (a flattering characterization they're happy to accept), but my experience is that they can learn how to use the tech that interests them very rapidly but have little curiosity to explore the surrounding systems.

So, yeah, no trouble Skyping or texting or mastering Facebook or tweeting or adopting whatever location aware app is making the rounds, in record time. But older people seem to confuse setting up a profile with "programming" and go from there to imagining that these phone happy children are capable of hacking into the Pentagon or field stripping their hardware, if so moved. They can certainly learn arcane strings of commands to get what they want, if necessary, but what they want is to do the handful of things that their social circumstance deems necessary.

Whatever happened to the iPad 3 rumor for Fall of 2011?

That is a good point. I forgot about Apple struggling with that issue. Apple, however, could have went another route, but was probably smart not to do so. Namely, PA Semi's initial claim to fame was designing fast RISC (Power PC is a brand name for the same architecture) that used low power. Very similar to what Apple using former PA Semi employees is doing with an ARM design now. Apple could have used PA Semi's chips and stayed on the same architecture. Apple probably didn't want to wait that long and saw that the real value in a Mac is the hardware design and OS.

I almost agree going to Intel was the best thing Apple did. I think Apple buying Next along with Jobs coming back was the best thing Apple did. The Next OS ran on a variety of architectures including Intel and Power PC. Apple was smart to secretly keep developing the OS for both. That made it easier for it to jump ship in what seemed a flawless fashion.

Engineering also is how well the parts are integrated and appropriate for each situation.
You can put a highly specd suspension in a car and make it top-heavy and it's handling will be poor despite the suspension.

Likewise a tablet with just individual parts thrown in together will not outperform one that is put together well.

The ad is brilliant as it emphasizes that it's not about the technology, but what you can do with it without having to think about it

This is why everybody's legal department wants us to stop using the word "laptop". Too many people were actually using them on their laps and burning permanent marks into their thighs. We're supposed to call them "notebooks" nowand if we use them in our laps it's our lookout!

I forgot about how IBM was struggling to bring home the power consumption bacon at the time. Good point.

I agree that on the PC front Mhz was everything, but Apple then as today, didn't want it to be that way. Mhz didn't fairly reflect the performance of the Power PC chips in comparison to Pentium chips. Apple, as the underdog, didn't have a choice to try and compete with its competitors advertising over all specifications. Going to Intel solved that problem and as you point brought cost down.

The difference today is Apple is in the drivers seat. The competition will want to play the old game of Mhz because it can beat Apple on numbers, but not necessarily on performance. By not publishing specs, Apple is trying to prevent the competitors from getting the upper hand where if given their way they'd advertise they have more powerful tablets based on specs alone.

I'm glad you mentioned the social aspect. I completely agree and had initially typed something similar down. However, it didn't make the final post as I wasn't prepared to justify a blanket generalization... no matter how obvious it should be to anyone who interacts with youth.

I also find your take on the misconceptions of setting up a profile as being equivalent to programming very insightful.

Speaking for myself, no, I haven't taken a look at the tech spex of the {insert favorite non-iPad tablet here} as they really don't mean a thing. I want something that's responsive, sharp, works, has a decent battery life, and has a place where I can browse apps for my device. Apple's iPad (1 and 2) fills that bill quite nicely. Trying to decypher the "spex" of all the tablet brands simply isn't worth it as these "spex" don't tell the whole story.

Have you been in the market for a refrigerator and looked at spex? How many ice cubes it makes in an hour? How many eggs will fit in the egg rack? How many watt-hours does it use? How fast is the condenser? How big is the water filter? Does a GE have spex that obviously exceed those of an LG? Go on, answer that.

I'm still waiting...

Spex are for fools that

fail to finish sentences?

Like "imoan" and "shavex?" Except they may be unibrows.

Yeah, I'm a Apple engineer, and some of the stuff we get through is just epic!

[Humor on]
Okay, use your head: First, stick your head out the window and take a look around. Is it sunny, cloudy, raining? Second, wet your finger and stick it in the air to see where the wind is coming from. Next, find your arthritic grandfather and ask him whether he's got any joint pain (from air pressure changes).

There, you have it!
[/humor]

No. I gave him away to Larry Byrum ages ago. I kept the can.

Nope. Fail to think of something suitable and not too offensive.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

... Like the problem posed to the mathematician and the engineer:

Scenario: You are in an empty room with your back against 1 wall and a beautiful naked model backed against the opposite wall 30 feet away.

Question: You can halve the distance between you with each leap -- how many leaps will it take?

Answer mathematician: You can never get there - it will take an infinite number of leaps!

Answer engineer: I can get close enough!

dude
that is a very old stupid joke 13 yr olds play


......
ipad2 is magical

Dare I say it: That's being realistic about the whole process of evaluating your tools based on your needs. I personally don't see where I'll be opening huge PDF files on my iPad.

I think you answered your own question by correctly identifying it as a rumor.

I like you too!

Tod... ya' gotta' be desperate (or is that disparate) to play the Larry Byrum card.

Hey, don't cast aspersions on 13-year-olds!

Of course it's old, of course it's stupid, but it's a bit of comic relief.