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Why the iPhone will fail (2007)

suckbusters2.blogspot.com

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Re: Why the iPhone will fail (2007)

#71

Post by Eight »

StavrosK wrote: post #57
phjohnst wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. My iPad hung a little yesterday and didn't do anything when I hit a button. I had, in fact, pressed the button, but there was no visual feedback. It's startling when it's not perfect, but when it works just so it doesn't really matter that it's not tactile feedback, it's that your brain gets the message that "yes, I just did x-action"

My iPhone 3G nowadays basically takes guesswork to function. "I pressed this link four times, is it frozen or did I touch the wrong place?"

It's amazing how much slower my 3G has gotten in the past 6 or 9 months.

Re: Why the iPhone will fail (2007)

#72

Post by electromagnetic »

StavrosK wrote: post #57
phjohnst wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. My iPad hung a little yesterday and didn't do anything when I hit a button. I had, in fact, pressed the button, but there was no visual feedback. It's startling when it's not perfect, but when it works just so it doesn't really matter that it's not tactile feedback, it's that your brain gets the message that "yes, I just did x-action"

My iPhone 3G nowadays basically takes guesswork to function. "I pressed this link four times, is it frozen or did I touch the wrong place?"

This is why I always immediately disable the trackpad clicks on laptops and netbooks. There's no tactile response, and due to the delay in Windows (it's as inevitable as the sun setting) I find myself opening a document 5 times whilst trying to figure out if I even double clicked it once.

I've used iPhones and Touches, yet to get hold of an iPad but this definitely hasn't been my response. It generally reacts fast enough to not need tactile response. Generally. I suppose when it goes wrong it's disastrously annoying for end-user experience.

Re: Why the iPhone will fail (2007)

#73

Post by dualboot »

sliverstorm wrote: post #22
riffic wrote: post #8

>Sell your Apple stock now, while the hype's still hot. You heard it here first. AAPL on June 21, 2007 - $123.9 a share AAPL on September 4, 2010 - $258.8 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=AAPL+JUNE+21,+2007 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=AAPL+September+4,+2010

I can never understand why people give advice like that. If they are right, nobody will remember or credit them, and if they are wrong they look terrible. I certainly avoid making such statements, as I cannot bear the thought of my advice destroying the wealth of the people close enough to me to listen to me.

I thought HD-DVD would win because it was the most accessible name for consumers. Perhaps if they'd named it DVD+HD it would have pulled it off :)

Re: Why the iPhone will fail (2007)

#74

Post by StavrosK »

Eight wrote: post #71
StavrosK wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My iPhone 3G nowadays basically takes guesswork to function. "I pressed this link four times, is it frozen or did I touch the wrong place?"

It's amazing how much slower my 3G has gotten in the past 6 or 9 months.

What's surprising is that it's gotten so much slower without any new functionality! I'm convinced that Apple has added some code to slow it down just to get me to buy a new one tinfoil hat.

Re: Why the iPhone will fail (2007)

#75

Post by dualboot »

akamaka wrote: post #42

There's a pretty big mistake in his logic, even without the benefit of hindsight. The iPhone didn't have to be as easy to use as an iPod. It's competing against other phones, and only needed to be easier to use than those. (In any case, I do find an iPhone easier to use than an iPod.)

I certainly agree.

His biggest mistake was not underestimating Apple, or it's potential customers.

His biggest mistake was ignoring how terrible every other smartphone offering to date actually was.

Certainly there have been plenty of well built and designed "phones" but the smartphone offerings were and have always been mostly painful experiences for end users.

There was always a massive compromise that greatly effected usability.

The iPhone chose a different set of compromises and I dare say it was a pretty spot on decision (in retrospect).

Re: Why the iPhone will fail (2007)

#76

Post by dualboot »

nanairo wrote: post #68
asanwal wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No doubt. They've done remarkably well but this (1) hasn't always been the case with Apple and (2) they do benefit from a brand halo they have from the iPod which did change the game. It'll be interesting to see if they can extend their wins into a new realm like with their social network - ping. That would be a testament to the firm's brilliance.

I think (1) is always the case with a "brilliant" company (whatever that means). Apple got successes because they didn't shun risk. Often they got it right (e.g. the iMac, dropping the floppy, etc...). Others they got it wrong (e.g. the Mac cube, and their adding DVD players instead of CD-RW back when you couldn't have both easily). But if you don't risk you get nowhere. Sony used to take risks... sadly not so much n…

Sony is failing now because they really just don't like their customers.

Re: Why the iPhone will fail (2007)

#77

Post by forgottenpaswrd »

tyng wrote: post #31

With regard to tactile feedback, I think it's rather a learned experience. People who have never used phone-sized physical keyboards (like myself) won't care much about "losing" that experience.

And some people (like myself) that were used to phone-sized keyboards just hated it. People that like bigger screens and a solid thing instead of mobile parts. I never understood people in University class writing messages under the table, multitasking is slower and inefficient.

Re: Why the iPhone will fail (2007)

#78

Post by aaronsw »

ThomPete wrote: post #70
erikpukinskis wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best designers have an accurate mental model of their users. In their mind, they can put their product in the hand of the 30 year old floor manager at the Borders at the mall and predict what will happen with shocking accuracy. They can predict it because they've watched the floor manager interact with past products in the usability lab dozens of times. And because they have watched that person dozens of times, t…

Well with regards to testing, Apple don't do any kind of usability testing in any normal sense. They build products they want themselves and then they see what happens. The feedback they get back from that is the feedback they use.

Of course Apple does usability testing and has since the beginning. Here's a full guide on how they do it:

http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/UserExp...

Obviously they use their own judgment and market feedback as well, but the notion that they launch products without testing them first is crazy.

Re: Why the iPhone will fail (2007)

#79

Post by nkohari »

StavrosK wrote: post #60
riffic wrote: post #8

>Sell your Apple stock now, while the hype's still hot. You heard it here first. AAPL on June 21, 2007 - $123.9 a share AAPL on September 4, 2010 - $258.8 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=AAPL+JUNE+21,+2007 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=AAPL+September+4,+2010

1. Write troll article, urging everyone to sell their stock. 2. Stock dips, buy as much as you can. 3. Wait 3 years. 4. Profit!

Wow, if my blog had this kind of clout, I'd retire early!

Re: Why the iPhone will fail (2007)

#80

Post by [deleted] »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #34
karzeem wrote: post #2

> The designers and technophiles who encouraged development of the iPhone have fallen into the trap of all overreaching hardware and software designers; thinking that their users are like themselves. Actually, I think both the worst and the best designers think their users are like them. It's just that the best ones are right.

The best designers have an accurate mental model of their users. In their mind, they can put their product in the hand of the 30 year old floor manager at the Borders at the mall and predict what will happen with shocking accuracy. They can predict it because they've watched the floor manager interact with past products in the usability lab dozens of times. And because they have watched that person dozens of times, t…

[deleted]
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