My how the world has changed. I am a boomer. My first phone was black with a rotary dial, provided by Bell Canada for a few dollars a month. To get the beautiful pink princess phone I coveted for my girly bedroom, we would have had to pay extra. For touch tone, another fee.
A Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications (CRTC) decision in 1982 made it legal to purchase a phone and plug it into the network, and 10 years later we got competing telecommunications providers.
The first “cellular” phones were the size of a cinder block and the first cellular “flip-phone” introduced by Motorola cost more than $1,500.
During my formative years, there was little choice in communications technology and services — in marked contrast to today’s wide array of phones in every imaginable colour, with every imaginable feature and pricing based on flat fees, usage-based fees, location-based fees or almost any combination.
Faced with this amazing and every-changing smorgasbord, it has become clear that the weird and wonderful thing about today’s consumers is that functionality is necessary but insufficient to win their hearts and minds.
Innovators need to intimately understand how technology is, can, or might be used by people, how to add value (real or perceived) and how to shape those perceptions and adapt to them. And they have to recognize that what people say they want may not be what they will use — who ever admitted that porn would be their principal use for the Internet?
These processes are highly iterative. Technology is not just bits and bites but complex social practices.
Consider the breathtakingly funny but profane “iphone4 vs. HTC Evo” YouTube video. A customer tells the salesperson she wants an iPhone4. He offers her a HTC Evo with superior functionality (bigger screen, higher speed, replaceable battery and lower cost.) At every point, she says “I don’t care.”
“If it’s not an iPhone, why would I want it?”
Salesperson: “It %^%$#$ prints money.”
Customer: “I don’t care.”
Salesperson: “It will grant you three wishes, even if one of those wishes is for an iPhone.”
Customer: “I don’t care.”
And so on. . .
Objectively speaking, it may be true that other devices have the same or better functionality than the iPhone4. But, fundamentally, adoption of technology has little to do with rational decisions about functions and features.
Perhaps no device in modern history has engendered the same deep emotional attachment as the iPhone — it has 100 million units sold to prove it. The iPhone is not just a device, it is part of a lifestyle, or an identity. It represents the height of technology fashion. It is sleek and beautiful.
With technology, as with romance, the heart wants what the heart wants, and winning consumer hearts is often more important than winning their minds. Technology developers who unlock the secrets of romancing customers, who understand the role of aesthetics and brand and identity and behaviour, are more likely to succeed.
To push technology to market in the not too distant past, it was enough to be more powerful, faster, smaller or feature-rich. Now consumer needs and wants — however weird and wonderful or “irrational” they may seem — drive market growth and innovation.
The pace of change is mind-boggling. Among the top 20 websites in 2010, five — Facebook, YouTube, Blogger, Twitter and Wikipedia — were not even on the list in 2005. How can technology providers plan when they cannot predict or even glimpse the trends that will rule the market in five years?
Smart companies are learning how to shape those needs and wants, and consumer decision-making processes, by intense engagement with consumers.
The secrets of Apple’s success are certainly complex and difficult to emulate but it has been a game changer. Of course it has been building its brand for almost 30 years — many kids grew up with Apple. But the company has managed to grow beyond the hard-core enthusiasts. Its products are complete solutions — hardware, software, content — with consistent look and feel, strengthening customer engagement and loyalty.
The brand is extremely powerful — virtually synonymous with “hip.” It has been brought into the mainstream with brilliant use of both traditional and emerging media.
But the foundation is its focus on shaping the customer experience on multiple levels. Certainly the functionality is there, but the emotional and aesthetic appeal is what give it staying power.
As Steve Chazin, former Apple marketing executive, has noted with respect to the runaway success of the iPod, “Apple isn’t selling you an MP3 player. They are inviting you to experience the Apple lifestyle and to become part of the iPod community. Use any other MP3 player and you’ll hear good music. Use an iPod and you’ll feel good. You’ll fit in. Product features don’t create fans.” Understanding the psyche of consumers and their very identities is critical.
And given the increasing importance of aesthetics and consumer behaviour to technology design, it is no surprise that educational institutions are trying to build cross-disciplinary programs and teams that harken back to the heady days of Xerox’s famous research Parc in Palo Alto, California.
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