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

Originally Posted by digitalclips

What so many of us here on this blog forget or perhaps don't even realize is just how much lack of understanding there is of normal computers, PCs or Macs out there by vast numbers of people.

I do a lot of support for computer users these days and it never ceases to amaze me. The difference between a mail application and a browser for example is a mystery to many. If they get mail via a web interface they don't realize this is the same browser they use for surfing. They have no concept whatsoever of the filing system and don't know how to save anything to anywhere they will ever find it again. They don't know what the difference is between a document and the application that created it is. Yesterday I had to help two 60 something year olds both with iPhones ... their issues included; they hooked their iPhones up to a PC with USB every time they wanted to send a picture. They thought the only way they could send each other an e-mail was by having both e-mails installed on both iPhones. They didn't know what WiFi was so had it switched off. They had 3G switched off since they thought it was more expensive so only Edge was in use ... it goes on and on. Apple get this and realize only the likes of people on this blog know or care about the technical side and they are right to simply remove it from the equation for the masses. Obviously I hope we always have a Mac as well as an iPad as I love to get under the hood but I have to admit ... in my 20's used to change my own cylinder head gaskets too, now I can't recognize anything under the hood of our vehicles!

Originally Posted by nvidia2008

Boy do I agree with you 110%. I do some work for a local Apple reseller and I train new users. "Train" is a very lose term because of how absolutely sh*tface clueless they are. After a few years of doing it, I am looking to step down from doing training after this month. iPad is not so bad. The new Mac users, now they are "flummoxed". Zero concept of the Dock, always worried "OMFG where are teh files OMG where teh files all taking up so much space must organise in folder and defrag defrag defrag".

I don't blame them. There was a new user saying, well I just want "sync"... OK, not online, right... just use Time Machine, not only does it keep it in sync but backed up. "No, I just want sync, I don't want all that stuff taking extra space etc etc". Couldn't be bothered, I just pointed him to search for a "sync backup" app on the App Store or wherever.

Their level of trust from using Windows and PCs is so minimal they just can't believe there's no need for antivirus, defragging, continually organising things in folders, constantly worrying how much space everything is taking, how to uninstall cleanly. They worry if you make a new playlist in iTunes or a new album in iPhoto the files are going to be duplicated. Always with the question, "but isn't that duplicating the file?". Jeez...

It's no wonder the iPad is a runaway success story. It's hitting all the right nerves of people just sick of PCs and too scared/distrustful of moving to Mac. OS X is great but it has its quirks for new users, yes, also because their minds are so warped by using Windows for so, so long.

Hard for people on these forums to understand, but do you all realise most new Mac laptop users are actually scared to leave the charger connected after the battery is charged for fear of damaging the battery? That's how rubbish PC laptops are.

As for the phones, the telcos are getting away with murder because people are so scared of going over their data allocation and paying additional charges, they use data so little and always come under the limit while still paying for a lot more data than they would actually use.

Originally Posted by srathi

It takes 4 to 12 steps to toggle 3G and we have all the hype about simplicity of iOS. On Android, all the toggles are just one touch away. Yeah! It is complicated!

Originally Posted by tjw

I would so buy an iPad 2 if you didn't have to plug it into fucking iTunes to use it. If I could use it without having to have iTunes then I would be a convert. I use linux for my job and as my personal computer, I don't want to have to touch a mac or windows pc.

Apple sort it out. You can't call an iPad or any of your other devices 'post pc' products when they have to be plugged into a mac or windows pc to use them!

Originally Posted by Apple ][

Let's examine the difference in marketing between this iPad 2 ad and the the Motorola Xoom ads which have constantly been running on my cable tv channels, and which I've unfortunately seen too many times. I've seen more Xoom ads than I've seen iPad ads on tv lately. Motorola is really trying to push the Xoom in what seems like a desperate effort.

The market for the iPad 2 is kids, teenagers, mothers, fathers, doctors, professionals, artists, senior citizens, grandmothers, grandfathers, businesses and everybody else in between. The iPad 2 is basically for everybody, young and old, male or female and the ads only reinforce that.

The Xoom ads are targeted towards one main group- ignorant, geeky, teenage males who might be impressed by a dumb looking spaceship.

That's quite a contrast in different marketing styles between the two companies. The competition to Apple doesn't understand tablets and they don't understand ads either.

Originally Posted by iMoan

Apple should focus attention away from hardware, especially since they released an iPad 2 that was little more than a speed bump with a substandard camera and no retina display.

Originally Posted by hill60

So 720p @ 30fps isn't enough?

It equals or betters 99% of the market of all tablets and smartphones.

A 10" tablet makes a ridiculous camera, Apple knows it, everyone with any sense knows it, Apple did more than enough to meet the requirements of tablet based photography.

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Competitors, including RIM's forthcoming Playbook, Android licensees' new 3.0 Honeycomb tablets, and HP's new TouchPad will have less trouble matching or even exceeding the technical specifications of iPad 2.

Originally Posted by OldMacGuy

When I first got my Lisa at work, its basic functions were explained to me documents, folders, applications and the like. When I moved up to the Mac II, most of what I had learned simply ported itself over to the new machine. I had no concept of the file system, nor did I know how to control where files went, for a long time. So, one day, our department's dedicated Mac guy showed my how HFS worked, and the shade was raised. So me, I'm patient when it comes down to teaching new dogs old tricks. I was there once. I'm in my 70s now, and am eagerly awaiting my iPad2. Lighten up, we all have to go to school to learn how do do anything.

Originally Posted by wizard69

I have no problem with the way Apple has been focusing it's ads. The ads do their job well, the problem is when they start playing games with the spec sheet. It really isn't acceptable that Apple hides basic info like RAM installed in a device. Spec sheets have little to do with marketing so to me Apple is being less than honest.

As to the article and the reference to the nineties I think the author is way off base. The sad reality was the PPC hardware sucked and sucked really bad. You can't ignore performance when the delta becomes a massive gap. Did someone forget about the huge jump in performance when the Intel machines came out? However this was only a small part of Apples issues in the nineties. In the end we are dealing with a new company now, well reborned. Back then PC companies didn't even bother to market against Apple, much of the specmanship was directed at other PC companies. Today Apple is often selling bleeding edge performance in their laptops, it has been a very long time since Apple has been a hardware technology leader.

Originally Posted by TBell

Not advertising specs plays to Apple's advantage because competitors will ups the specs, advertise their products are better because of the specs, and yet at the same time have devices that don't perform as well as Apple's device.

Apple has designed the chip and power management system itself. So, something can share the same specs, but not perform as well. Apple is trying not give competitors an easy way in the door by being able to easily advertise specs.

Originally Posted by iMoan

Apple should focus attention away from hardware, especially since they released an iPad 2 that was little more than a speed bump with a substandard camera and no retina display.

Originally Posted by nkalu

Brilliant campaign, nice ad. Availability has been the issue for a while now. I still haven't received mine after 3 weeks of placing the order.

Originally Posted by wizard69

I have no problem with the way Apple has been focusing it's ads. The ads do their job well, the problem is when they start playing games with the spec sheet. It really isn't acceptable that Apple hides basic info like RAM installed in a device. Spec sheets have little to do with marketing so to me Apple is being less than honest.

Originally Posted by OllieWallieWhiskers

why do you care how much RAM is in the iPad? do you want to buy one with more RAM? because you can't.

Originally Posted by tjw

I would so buy an iPad 2 if you didn't have to plug it into fucking iTunes to use it. If I could use it without having to have iTunes then I would be a convert. I use linux for my job and as my personal computer, I don't want to have to touch a mac or windows pc.

Apple sort it out. You can't call an iPad or any of your other devices 'post pc' products when they have to be plugged into a mac or windows pc to use them!

Originally Posted by shavex

Have you even taken a look at the tech specs of the Playbook? They obviously exceed the iPad 2.

Originally Posted by jragosta

Most importantly, though, is that you're missing the entire point. For consumer products, it's not about specs. Do you know how much RAM is in your BluRay player? Do you know the CPU speed in your HDTV? Do you care? Other than a tiny number of hopeless geeks (many of whom aren't likely to be customers, anyway, because they've bought into Google's "openness" lies), the specs just don't matter. As soon as someone comes out with a product that's more usable than the iPad at a competitive price, then people will start buying it - specs be damned.

Originally Posted by addabox

I think that's a smart ad. It has a warmer tone then the usual sprightly song and shots of people doing stuff, and actually talks directly to Apple's overarching design philosophy, which I haven't seen them do for a while.

This might be a good time to run an entire campaign around this concept, pushing Apple's humanizing touch. Particularly in the face of Android licensee's tendency to go with murderous robots and spaceships and hallucinogenic trances Apple could go out of their way to position themselves as the "gather the family 'round" company.

Originally Posted by wizard69

As to the article and the reference to the nineties I think the author is way off base. The sad reality was the PPC hardware sucked and sucked really bad. You can't ignore performance when the delta becomes a massive gap. Did someone forget about the huge jump in performance when the Intel machines came out? However this was only a small part of Apples issues in the nineties. In the end we are dealing with a new company now, well reborned. Back then PC companies didn't even bother to market against Apple, much of the specmanship was directed at other PC companies. Today Apple is often selling bleeding edge performance in their laptops, it has been a very long time since Apple has been a hardware technology leader.

Originally Posted by sflocal

Actually, he should change his screen ID to "iWhine"

Originally Posted by iMoan

Then why did Apple put two of them on the iPad 2??

Originally Posted by Marvin

It's better than their 'nyah, nyah, you don't have an iPhone' ad anyway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV2__tmrEbM

Too condescending IMO and people do have that functionality on other devices.

I'd say the iPad one is a bit better but it didn't really have much of an impact because it didn't say clearly why it was better than anyone else or the old one.

Consumers likely don't need to look at heart rate monitors or brain scans and the drawing inside the number 2 isn't really magical. Garageband is magical, being able to edit movies is powerful, being able to hook up 1080p games to a HDTV is a great feature and not mentioned, having better viewing angles than the Xoom means not only good for reading but better for reading.

I guess when you have no competition your ads can be complacent but what happens next year? They come along with iPad 3:

Apple: Look, iPad 3 is still just as magical you don't need to know what's inside
Consumer: Ok, it looks like it does the same as iPad 1, which is cheaper so I'll have one of those
Apple: Oh no wait, it has faster graphics, a higher resolution screen, more RAM
Consumer: Well why didn't you say that in the first place?

Originally Posted by NextTechnocrati

I was happy with the original iPad and with iPad 2 all the minor incremental upgrades are just gravy. Since day one, I have yet to experience system interruptions/crashes. In that aspect alone, iPad stands out and will never be matched by the competition.

Originally Posted by tjw

I would so buy an iPad 2 if you didn't have to plug it into fucking iTunes to use it. If I could use it without having to have iTunes then I would be a convert. I use linux for my job and as my personal computer, I don't want to have to touch a mac or windows pc.

Apple sort it out. You can't call an iPad or any of your other devices 'post pc' products when they have to be plugged into a mac or windows pc to use them!

Originally Posted by digitalclips

Agree 100%. The irony is those ignorant, geeky, teenage males who relate to that ad are most likely far from looking like the handsome guy in the ads, except for their on line avatar in the Sims that is.

Originally Posted by iMoan

Then why did Apple put two of them on the iPad 2??

Originally Posted by bmovie

The commercials are narrated by Peter Coyotewriter, actor and narrator and created by the original ad agency that launched Apple. There is no space cadet in a space capsule; there is no pretentious orchestra playing in the background while some burglar climbs a high-voltage tower to charge his tablet; no tablet glued to the TV screen as the people and the background changes; no teenager that clones 5 copies of himself before he boards a bus; and there is no overlord trying to woo any babe in a white hoodie. The message is simple and straightforward.

Two visuals stand out in the commercial: The "live" strumming of the guitar strings in GarageBand and how one photo becomes many photos at the flick of the fingers. It is not about ram or meters. It is about the Ecosystem. It is not about the size or shape of the magic wand, but what the magician can do with the magic wand. Being thin, or faster, or lighter is incidental. Performing magic is what is being sold.

All good advertising do 2 things. First, it gets the viewer excited enough to try the product, then it reassures all those who have bought the productthat they made the right choice. People who bought or received the first iPad for Christmas will watch this commercial and still feel good about their iPads and Apple.

Anyone commenting without watching the commercial should be ignored. Anyone bringing up Flash should also be ignored in light of the fact that cable companies are now making some local TV broadcasting available for iPads. In fact, Flash's wayward parent Adobe just showcasted Photoshop for iPad last week, and it is mind-blowingly 3-dimensional! More reasons for Dell and Microsoft (and all Android-Trons) to hate Apple.

Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody

Their market is not just young geeky guys, it's young geeky very average looking guys, who fantasise about being ripped hunky guys. The commercials are over the top macho, but at the same time they know that they are really appealing to the raging id inside the geek and it's desire to see itself as a powerful good looking man.

Originally Posted by iMoan

Then why did Apple put two of them on the iPad 2??

Originally Posted by OllieWallieWhiskers

you only have to do it once. you can even do it in the apple store right after you buy the thing...

anyway, i agree with you. it's stupid. the only reason i plug in my iPod touch is to back it up, and sync my podcasts. both would be easily implemented without plugging in. just throw in time machine support, and let podcasts update on the device itself! why doesn't it do this anyway?

perhaps iOS 5 will break the chain.

Originally Posted by theblackswan

Probably a bit off topic, but I'll add one more thing. I agree that the commercials target wannabe hunks who are actually average looking geeks. But even most people who are vocal about Android on forums etc. are either wannabe techies or suffer from a mild Asperger's. They can't appreciate or understand the big picture, the magic. I go to one of the best CS schools; almost nobody here cares about rooting their phones, or customizability or widgets. If you want to show your tech prowess you'd rather make an a great app. To be blunt, customizability and specs are the guilty pleasures of the tech lowbrows.

Originally Posted by digitalclips

What so many of us here on this blog forget or perhaps don't even realize is just how much lack of understanding there is of normal computers, PCs or Macs out there by vast numbers of people.

I do a lot of support for computer users these days and it never ceases to amaze me. The difference between a mail application and a browser for example is a mystery to many. If they get mail via a web interface they don't realize this is the same browser they use for surfing. They have no concept whatsoever of the filing system and don't know how to save anything to anywhere they will ever find it again. They don't know what the difference is between a document and the application that created it is. Yesterday I had to help two 60 something year olds both with iPhones ... their issues included; they hooked their iPhones up to a PC with USB every time they wanted to send a picture. They thought the only way they could send each other an e-mail was by having both e-mails installed on both iPhones. They didn't know what WiFi was so had it switched off. They had 3G switched off since they thought it was more expensive so only Edge was in use ... it goes on and on. Apple get this and realize only the likes of people on this blog know or care about the technical side and they are right to simply remove it from the equation for the masses.

Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody

Agreed. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees these sorts of things.

Originally Posted by ascii

When technology gets out of the way things become easier to use, yes. But things don't become magical unless the technology is not understood, and I think that is what they might be aiming at with keeping the specs secret.

Originally Posted by Pennywse

If I saw someone shooting photography with a 10" tablet, I would feel inclined to slap them.

Originally Posted by addabox

I think that's a smart ad. It has a warmer tone then the usual sprightly song and shots of people doing stuff, and actually talks directly to Apple's overarching design philosophy, which I haven't seen them do for a while.

This might be a good time to run an entire campaign around this concept, pushing Apple's humanizing touch. Particularly in the face of Android licensee's tendency to go with murderous robots and spaceships and hallucinogenic trances Apple could go out of their way to position themselves as the "gather the family 'round" company.

Originally Posted by TBell

When Apple decided to jump ship was when Intel came out with the Core Duo roadmap. Apple decided it was too much of a headache trying to compete with Intel on hardware specification numbers, and the Core Duo represented a significant step in the right direction by Intel.

Originally Posted by tjw

I would so buy an iPad 2 if you didn't have to plug it into fucking iTunes to use it. If I could use it without having to have iTunes then I would be a convert. I use linux for my job and as my personal computer, I don't want to have to touch a mac or windows pc.

Apple sort it out. You can't call an iPad or any of your other devices 'post pc' products when they have to be plugged into a mac or windows pc to use them!

Originally Posted by theblackswan

Now only if someone could write a concise and structured 'Thoughts on Fandroids', I hope they will troll less. I am really tired of 'I want to use an OS where I have to use my brain, iOS is for babies'. Show us what's so great that you have done in tech, before you finger point.

Originally Posted by TBell

Power PC processors never sucked. If they did, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony would not now be using them in X-Boxes, Wiis, and PS3s.

Apple had three problems. The first was it had to rely both on IBM and Motorola to develop the processors (the so called AIM alliance). The second was the Power PC processors worked differently and performed much better at lower specifications then Pentium processors. Intel, Microsoft, and the hardware manufacturers used this to their advantage by focusing on specifications. Those companies knew consumers generally don't understand technology and focus on the specification number. If something has a higher number, it must be better. That simply wasn't true when comparing RISC (AIM based) versus CISC (intel based) architecture.

The G3 grew a little long in the tooth at the end of its life before the G4s came out. The G4 and G5 processors were monsters. When the G4s first came out, they blew Pentiums with similar specfications away. I remember the Apple tank commercial. That wasn't advertising, but facts. The G4 temporarily jumped way ahead of Intel. Problem was Apple relied on Motorola to update the G4. Motorola was pissed off Apple revoked its license to sell Mac clones when Jobs came back, and Apple's sales were dropping. Motorola didn't' want to spend big bucks updating the architecture. Jobs to this day seems to bad mouth Motorola.

Apple had to turn to IBM to save the day. There was a lag before IBM was able to bring forth the G5 chip, again a great chip. I had a friend who makes his living doing video work. He had the last model G5 Tower Apple sold (still does), and the first generation Core Duo Tower Apple sold. He had both running OSX. The G5 tower often significantly bested the Core Duo tower in some functionality such as video encoding.

The third problem Apple had was the Power PC chips cost Apple more the Intel chips cost Apple's competitors. Intel had far more volume then IBM so the cost was way lower for Apple's competitors to buy the chips ultimately pushing the cost of Apple's products up. Moreover, Intel made a few questionable strategy decision for the Pentium. Consequently, AMD started kicking Intel's butt with its Opteron line of processors. Intel was having to pay manufacturers in the form of large secret kickbacks to not switch to AMD's offerings. That further reduced the cost of Intel chips in comparison to IBM's chips. I can't remember the exact number, but something like a quarter of Dell's profit was from Intel kickbacks.

When Apple decided to jump ship was when Intel came out with the Core Duo roadmap. Apple decided it was too much of a headache trying to compete with Intel on hardware specification numbers, and the Core Duo represented a significant step in the right direction by Intel.

Ironically enough Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo turned to IBM to develop game chips on Power PC technology. It seems to be working for them. Apple, however, doesn't want to fight the specification game again because numbers do not always tell the whole story. Performance is what matters. Consumers understand things like twice as fast or nine times as fast.