Jon Dale

Ten Reasons I’ll replace my kindle with an Apple iPad (or whatever they call it)

Don’t get me wrong, I love my kindle.  But there are some things that really frustrate me and leave me salivating for whatever it is that Apple is about to come with.  Here are the ten reasons I think Apple’s new device will be a kindle killer:

1. Sharing and interaction.  I like reading blogs on my kindle, but I don’t because I can’t easily share what I’m reading.  One of the main reasons I read blogs is to find great content to share with others.  There’s no easy way to do this on my kindle.  So I often wait and use my laptop for my daily reading.  I’m confident Apple’s device will make it easy for me to tweet a link to something I want to share.
2. Email.  A device the size of the kindle and I can’t do email.
3. Touch screen.  Every time I hand my kindle to someone to look at they try to use the screen like an iPhone screen.
4. Color.  Pictures anyone?
5. Multimedia.  My kindle is 3 times the size of my iPhone and I can’t watch a movie on it.
6. The kindle is functional (sort of), Apple’s device will be sexy.
7. The app store.  A device just for reading books?  That would be like having an iPhone and only using it for making phone calls.
8. Enhanced content.  I think this is going to be a game changer.  Embed video in a book.  Finally.
9. Social interaction.  While Amazon has completely ignored Seth’s suggestions. I’m guessing Apple will embrace them without even reading them. 
10. You.  Apple’s customers will be passionate evangelists.

The goal of design

Whether you’re creating a real estate brochure, building a web site or decorating a restaurant effective design is crucial.

I’m not talking about the kind of design that wins awards from other designers...but the kind that actually works.

Effective design should do one thing...remind people of the right things.

When you’re scanning your email you recognize spam before you read it.  Why?  Because it reminds you of spam.

When the Obama campaign decided it wanted to be historic, they didn’t run around saying, “This campaign is historic.”  They started borrowing elements from historic documents and using them in their design.  And subconsciously millions of Americans started thinking, “This campaign is historic”.

And it’s not just about look and feel.  In our Colorado mountain town we had a new restaurant open that couldn’t figure out who they were.  They always had classical music playing, used linen table cloths but they served ketchup in the little packets.  It just didn’t fit.  They had no idea what they were trying to remind people of and they lasted less than three months.

It doesn’t cost any more to have effective design than ineffective design. The important part is to figure out what it is you’re trying to remind people of and go do that. 

What are you thinking?

Someone told me about a humorous exchange between a British ship in distress and the German coast guard.  I doubt its true, but it went something like this:

British ship: “Mayday...Mayday...We are sinking”

German Coast Guard: “Halo.  This is the German coast guard, what are you sinking about?”

Miscommunications can happen.  But the important thing is that the coast guard was listening.  Many companies aren’t even listening to customers that are trying to talk to them.

Do a twitter search for @bose and you’ll see customers trying to engage the company on twitter.  And what do they get in response.  Silence.

Twitter and facebook are the new dial tone. Your customers expect you to be there.

Saying you weren’t listening is not an acceptable excuse.

Update: Turns out there's a really funny video version of the joke here. (Thanks @jgrubbs)