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The iPad is a dream. Got it?
eMarketer reported today that iPad sales are expected to more than double in the coming year. With some 8.5 million of the devices sold in the U.S. in 2010, that gives Apple a sweet 88% of total U.S. tablet sales. And, while the devices are big in the U.S., total global sales of all tablets are reported by Gartner at 19.5 million for the year — and that’s not shabby either. No wonder other brands are scurrying to develop their own tablets and trying to swipe some market share from Apple. eMarketer predicts iPad sales to be in the neighborhood of 20 million for 2011 and reaching 30 million by 2012. Those are some massively impressive numbers.
At T2 + Back Alley, we’re finding more uses for the iPad on a daily basis, both internally and as solutions and innovative marketing tools for our clients. Apps are touted as the websites of the future and our creative team is digging app design, creating other mobile marketing solutions and doing tons of experience design.
Our favorite use of the iPad this past year might have been the way the fashion industry embraced new media and started creating content for use on tablets and other mediums. This moved designers into the realm of not only designing and creating beautiful clothing, but designing and creating content to showcase the fruits of their labor as well. We predict there will be more and more unique and innovative ways that brands use tablets like the iPad and that we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg so far. And with Wired reporting that Apple’s version 2.0 of the iPad is rumored to be delivered in April 2011 (along with some intel about some spiffy new cases that are in the works), we’d recommend postponing a holiday purchase and waiting for the new, improved model.
What about you — any innovative uses of the iPad that have been your particular favorites?
I love my iPad. And so when I read AdAge’s piece about ABC launching an iPad app in conjunction with the premiere of its “My Generation” series, I was intrigued. Now, instead of being annoyed by pop-ups on the screen, viewers can participate in polls, trivia, social networking features and other interactive elements on their iPads. This is yet another innovative step in brands’ quest for the oh-so elusive, yet highly sought after “engagement element.”
The My Generation Sync app will keep up with the series, whether or not you’re watching live and the “sync to broadcast” app is part of the magic that everyone seeks – value for both advertisers AND viewers. So far, this app goes a little further than others out there, following along with the episodes intuitively.
ABC isn’t alone in their quest to bring interactivity to the TV viewing experience. Some networks have partnered with companies like GetGlue and Miso and feature all the social connectivity, rewards for checking in (similar to Foursquare and Facebook Places) and perhaps even couponing and other specials.
Bottom line, devices are front and center in our lives today. Interactive TV, whether served up on the iPad, SmartPhones or via social networking is here. It will be exciting to see what develops in the coming year.
I’ve been reading Robert Sutton’s blog over at Harvard Business Review on a regular basis and really enjoying it. He’s a professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford and his book, Good Boss Bad Boss: How to Be the Best and Learn From the Worst is on my reading list. I’m finding that he regularly generates good stuff.
My favorite Sutton post (so far) is about the importance of killing off ideas – even great ones. This comes from Sutton’s 12 Things That Good Bosses Believe post, and it centers on the premise that good bosses regularly kill ideas – even good ones. What he means is this: as leaders, an integral part of our jobs are to inspire and encourage our people to be innovative, and regularly create lots and lots of ideas and new concepts. But, as important as creativity and innovation are, especially when it comes to the success of any creative services agency, the ability to kill off the bad ideas is critical.
Equally important, says Sutton, and often harder, is the ability of a leader to walk away from really good ideas. Sound crazy? Not really. Sometimes great ideas are just too difficult to execute. And a good user experience or piece of experiential design that’s too difficult or too expensive to execute – well, that’s an idea that just doesn’t make sense. For any one great idea to succeed it needs a lot of time, attention, resources and ingenuity in order to reach its true potential.
Apple’s Steve Jobs is a big proponent of the importance of killing good ideas and calls the ability to do that the hallmark of a great company. Using the premise of Jobs’ argument, here are the metrics that Sutton suggests tracking:
1. How many good ideas are killed? If this number isn’t high enough, that is a bad sign. It means either that not enough ideas are being generated, or that important hard choices aren’t being made.
2. How many people are complaining — even leaving — because of good ideas being killed? This really is what makes the pruning so hard. It’s tough on the people who came up with ideas and are emotionally invested in them. Being the direct cause of their complaining, and even departure, is awful — and certainly doesn’t make you feel like a great boss. But if no one is complaining, that’s a worse sign. This kind of frustration is an unfortunate byproduct of an effective innovation process, and if your people don’t have enough pride and confidence to get upset when their innovative ideas are killed, then something is wrong with them — or your culture.
This makes sense to me. Killing good ideas. Making important, hard choices. And tracking them. My management lesson of the day.
Reading a piece in the Harvard Business Review about devices and how integral they’re becoming to the art of the pitch really struck home with me.
As a creative services shop, we pitch new business all the time. And, being immersed in the digital space, we’re always considering how our clients’ products and services can best be maximized in that space. So even when our clients come to us asking for what they think they need, we’re always thinking about what they might not know they need, but what would make their end result even more impactful.
The reason the HBR piece hit home is because it mentioned that at Fortune’s recent technology conference in Aspen, it was not unusual for innovators to pull out their smartphones and run through a quick presentation on their device when asked for more information. Seeing really is believing and the author of the piece said just that. When you can touch, feel and experience a concept, and see all the different applications while holding a device in your hand, it really makes the selling process more personal.
It’s not unusual that we use our seemingly omnipresent iPads during new business pitches or even during meetings with existing clients. We use them to demonstrate an idea or walk them through a presentation or an experiential design piece and that really seems to resonate with them. Sometimes we even build a technology element into a project for a client, that they can subsequently use for their new business pitches.
In fact, Michael Schrage, author of the HBR piece, put it this way:
“My professional bet is that “hand-it-over” innovation pitches will double smartphone and mobile device sales worldwide. Entrepreneurs, salespeople and innovators alike will socialize with at least two devices in the backpacks and breast pockets — one for their personal/professional use and the other to “hand over” for interpersonal play.”
Technology – it pretty much rules all of us these days. Thoughts?
T2 is a collection of artists who create stories and imagery for all types of media.
Back Alley Films is a daredevil production task force who creates messages across all media platforms.
