iPad

advertising / creative / google / iPad / observatory / samsung — 28 Comments
13
Mar 13

Apple vs. everyone: battle of the tablet ads

Whatever happened to the good old days, when iPad was the only choice in town?

Unfortunately for Apple, those days are now long gone. There’s no resting on past glories. For those comparing tablets today, it hardly matters who invented what. What’s important is what they see today — and it starts with the ads.

Let’s see how the ad competition is shaping up.

Apple has always spawned passionate reactions to its advertising, pro and con. But these days, it seems that the natives are restless. Continue reading →

advertising / android / creative / iPad / observatory / samsung / tablets — 176 Comments
25
Feb 13

Apple battling where it used to crush

No one denies that Apple has been more successful than any other technology company on earth.

How that happened shouldn’t be a matter of debate, but we can always count on human nature to muddy the waters. Some Apple detractors put forth the theory that it’s not the technology; it’s all in the marketing.

Reasonably intelligent people can’t possibly believe that. However, there is one bit of truth to it. That is, Apple has always been amazingly good at marketing. It’s been the gold standard in marketing as long as most of us can remember.

No matter what brand I’m working with, technology or otherwise, it’s astounding how many times I hear marketing people cite the Apple example to make a point. Apple’s advertising history is as famous as its products.

But something’s changed. Continue reading →

advertising / creative / iPad / microsoft / observatory / tablets / technology — 17 Comments
21
Dec 12

Microsoft goes for the gimmick

Back in the days of NeXT, Steve Jobs taught me a lesson in technology advertising. As you might expect, it wasn’t very complicated. It went like this:

“Be important.”

At that point in time, Steve had a particular need for importance. Sales of the NeXT Computer weren’t exactly on fire. The company was struggling to survive.

Steve wanted the world to believe that NeXT was a relevant force with a message that deserved notice. He had no interest in an ad that was cute or inconsequential. He wouldn’t pin his hopes on a marketing gimmick.

I can’t help but think of Steve’s direction when I see Microsoft’s advertising for its Surface tablet.

“Important” it is not. Continue reading →

android / apple / apple news / iMac / iPad / mac / observatory / simplicity / strategy / technology — 29 Comments
24
Oct 12

Reflecting on the iPad mini event

I’m still calling this the iPad mini event. But that’s only because it sounds much simpler than the MacBook Pro/iMac/iPad mini event. That was quite a boatload of technology.

Some observations:

Tim Cook. I thought he was much improved yesterday — compared to his performance at the iPhone 5 event, where he seemed overly coached and eager to hurl those adjectives.

The even-newer iPad. Surprise. The 4th generation comes only seven months after the 3rd generation. Never seen that before. Of course an update was necessary, if only to add the Lightning connector. Apple couldn’t very well be selling millions of iPads for the holidays sporting a connector that has no future.

The next new iPad? Taking iPad off its regular spring update schedule is a smart marketing move. By moving to a fall update schedule, Apple will enter every holiday season with a brand-new iPad. That’ll throw a bit more fuel on the flame. Continue reading →

iPad / observatory / steve jobs / tablets / technology — 13 Comments
23
Jul 12

Maybe Sculley wasn’t so $#@ after all?

Quick. When you hear the name John Sculley, what comes to mind?

Conspirator? Failed CEO? Uh, visionary?

As we all know, Sculley’s attempts to fill Steve’s visionary shoes didn’t quite pan out. Newton was a good idea, lacking only in the technology that would make it work well. (Though it did provide excellent fodder for the late-night comics).

Sculley’s most revolutionary idea was the Knowledge Navigator. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a product — it was just a video. It was his vision of Apple’s computing future. Continue reading →

iPad / microsoft / observatory / tablets — 11 Comments
26
Jun 12

The joy of demo crashes

In a world where competition is often seen as combat, there’s nothing more delightful than watching the other guy squirm.

This video is a good example. Microsoft Windows president Steve Sinofsky’s mid-demo crash of the Surface tablet during the “big unveil” last week now has garnered 3 million views in a week. That’s over three times as many hits as the presentation itself — and over twice as many as Steve Jobs’ iPad 2 presentation has accumulated in over a year.

Good moments just don’t attract a crowd like good moments gone bad. But then Sinofsky added to the allure with his own little bit of performance art. Note how he does a little bunny-hop to the back of the stage to pick up a backup unit — almost as if no one would notice. Continue reading →

iPad / microsoft / observatory — 26 Comments
20
Jun 12

Microsoft delivers its opening argument for Surface

In the last 15 years, I don’t think I’ve ever given Microsoft more than 10 consecutive minutes of my life. Which is sad, because long ago I was actually a fan.

But yesterday, curious about the Surface tablet, I sat myself down and watched the entire video of Monday’s Surface unveiling in Hollywood. I found it fascinating on many levels.

First, I have to say that I was drawn to the video because two of the Surface’s features seemed very cool — the 16:9 format screen and keyboard built into the cover.

So, despite my mostly negative views of Microsoft, I started the video being somewhat impressed. Continue reading →

apple news / iPad / iPhone / observatory / technology — 2 Comments
13
Jun 12

A moment of sanity in the Applesphere

Being under the microscope is a double-edged sword for Apple.

On one hand, the company gets hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of free publicity from the world’s journalists and bloggers. On the other, it gets picked apart for every transgression, real or imagined.

There are legions of critics and naysayers just waiting to pounce. We hear from them whenever Apple’s quarterly report shows a “weakness,” some supplier in Asia is rumored to be making fewer iPad components, or an Apple event fails to meet expectations — no matter how unrealistic those expectations might have been.

It’s for that last reason that I was somewhat amazed by the reactions to Apple’s WWDC 2012 presentation on Monday. Continue reading →

advertising / apple / creative / intel / iPad / mac / strategy / tablets / technology — 9 Comments
5
Apr 12

Intel’s “new era” echoes Apple’s old idea

Thanks to Intel, “a new era of computing” has arrived.

No more thick, heavy laptops. No more clunky design. This is the dawn of the “ultrabook”: super-thin, super-light and beautifully sculpted.

It’s a bold claim and a fantastic idea, except that it ignores one obvious fact:

The Intel era of ultrabooks looks exactly like the Apple era of MacBook Air, which began four years ago.

It’s particularly interesting because MacBook Air has actually been running on an Intel processor all this time. And PC companies have in fact dabbled in the super-thin space before, though they haven’t had much luck. Continue reading →

advertising / creative / iPad / observatory / technology — 11 Comments
26
Mar 12

Apple goes wordless once again

A few weeks ago, I put up an article about the lack of headlines in Apple’s most recent outdoor ads. There were some strong opinions on both sides, for and against headlines.

With its latest iCloud commercial (above), Apple has now expanded the wordless approach to TV. This ad gives us a series of shots in which an action taken on one Apple device is instantly reflected on another. (At least we think it’s instant — there is no real reference to the timeframe.)

Thank you, Apple, for giving us the perfect A/B test. The new iCloud ad actually tells the identical story we got in the previous iCloud ad. The only real difference is the absence of a voiceover to explain things. Continue reading →

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