apple | thinkit creative

Remembering Steve, a Switcher tells his story

By Patrick Gant

With this sad news today, let me share with you something personal.

I was one of the people who appeared in the original batch of Apple “Switch” ads, back in 2002.

They ran for a little while on TV and elsewhere (a decade later and surprisingly it’s still not hard to find the entire series of ads on YouTube).

Back then, it was a different time for Apple. But already, you could see this was a company in the midst of a remarkable rebirth, thanks to the creative genius of Steve Jobs. I was happy to lend a hand when I emailed Apple way-back-when, explaining why I took a chance and bought that first iMac when I had launched my new company a year earlier. That email led to my involvement in the campaign, which was a lot of fun at what was for me a huge personal turning-point in life. So in many ways, I’ve always had a particular fondness for Steve Jobs and Apple.

It wasn’t just that Steve was the head of a company that made great products that helped in my own personal rebirth, building my business into what it is today. Steve set an example for so many of us: the best way to give a damn about things that matter deeply to you is to show it with great work that moves and inspires others.

Thank you, Steve.

I’ll keep giving a damn, working hard to put my own dent in the universe.

[Update: My old friend and fellow Switcher, Pete (Damon) Wright has posted his own recollections today, too.]

Making it easier to buy things: the magic behind the Mac App Store

By Patrick Gant

About a week ago, Apple launched its Mac App Store—essentially an offshoot of its App Store for iPod/iPhone/iPad. By all accounts so far, it’s been a pretty successful launch, scoring one million downloads on its first day alone.

Even some developers who had initial reservations about this new way of buying software are being won over.

I can see a few things that are putting wind in the sails of those who’ve partnered with Apple on this experimental venture. First, pricing is fair but competitive within the App Store—particularly among small-sized apps that do one thing really well, as opposed to the bloated swiss-army knife approach that so many developers used to impose on their applications. Second, apps are presented compellingly as impulse buys. Not hard to part with $4.99 for Angry Birds. Plenty spend more than that on a fancy cup of coffee these days. The third factor is licensing, or rather, the lack of it with Mac Store Apps. No more having to save licensing codes. Buy the app and it’s yours.

Clearly, there’s lots to celebrate here for Mac developers, but there’s a lesson here that every business can learn from, too.

You sell more when you make it as easy as possible for your customers to buy from you.

(Photo: Apple)

Don’t confuse what people buy with what you are selling

By Patrick Gant

“What people buy and what you sell are not the same things.” This is something I’ve believed as a marketer and copywriter for a very long time.

I was reminded of this recently while re-reading Cory Doctorow’s criticism of the iPad, way back when it was a brand-new thing.

His argument, in essence, was that the iPad failed because it’s not a computer.

Well, he’s half right. There’s nowhere that I can see in the box-copy or in Apple’s online material that says this device is a computer.

That’s not an oversight. And it’s not that the iPad isn’t a computer (it is).

It’s just not important.

Most people don’t want to buy computers. They want things to help them do stuff.

It’s no different than what we see with cars. Sure there are some who love to tinker and pull things apart and revel in the technical details of how the car operates. Then there’s the other 95 percent who just want something that runs well, looks good and gets them where they want to go and are entirely uninterested in the technology making that happen behind the scenes.

Realizing this is what fuelled a lot of the deep thinking that went into designing the iPad. Really…what would be the point of a MacBook Air minus a keyboard other than just being a MacBook Air minus a keyboard?

It’s not a coincidence that in 2007 Apple quietly pulled the word “computers” from their corporate name. It’s not just because their product line has outgrown the word. It’s because the meaning behind the word is not all that relevant to a large segment of the population.

They build and design computers. But what their customers buy are devices that help them do things.

What you are selling and what people buy are two different things.