Some people just don’t get it.

Cory, Cory, Cory. You’re making some assumptions that are incorrect. AOL didn’t die because geeks refused to use it for it’s simplicity. It died because eventually developers made the internet easier to use and AOL became redundant. AOL didn’t change the way they did business fast enough and is now struggling. Apple didn’t almost die in the late 90s because geeks refused to use their products. OS 7-9 were incredibly easy to use (if increasingly unstable for the markets they were trying desperately to hold on to) products. Apple almost died because Microsoft with Win95 and 98 (the time frame I’m talking about) computing became much easier to use and there was little difference between the overall user experience (mouse/keyboard/point and click/organizing by folders).

Apple learned that lesson that hard way. It isn’t enough to just put out a product that may or may not be better than the competition. You have to also provide a service that makes it easy for your potential customers to use whatever the product is. The iPod and iTunes for all it’s faults did just that. Everyone else tried competing by throwing in more features and that failed miserably. The iPhone is another example. It wasn’t the first smartphone, it wasn’t the first touchscreen, it wasn’t the first one with applications you could download. It WAS the first one that just about anyone could pick up and use without RTFM. The real kicker was when Apple opened the app store. How many of the tech writing elite said over and over again that the iPhone (and the iPod before it) was going to be a MASSIVE fail, that Apple wouldn’t sell any, and that no one would write apps for it because of Apple’s restrictions? Apple laughed all the way to the bank for being right.

This can be proven quite easily by the slew of smartphones now on the market that are trying to do the same thing. Make the interface easier to use for the consumer market. Encourage developers to make apps that regular people want to use. Microsoft and Google are now doing nearly the same thing as what Apple did (for better or for worse).

Now we have the iPad and all the same people are talking about what a massive fail it’s going to be. You’re all wrong and here’s why. What are Microsoft and Google doing right now? They are developing tablets that do the same thing as the iPad. Easy to use, less security problems, getting developers onboard to make apps for these new devices. Others are designing tablets for OSes with the same principle in mind. Make it easy to use.

Tablets with a full OS have been out for years and few people bought them. Why should they when there are laptops and netbooks that do the same thing that are cheaper? Even the ModBooks with OSX haven’t sold very well. Again, there are other devices better suited that do the same thing, are less expensive, and are easier to use. You can’t just throw touch commands and a stylus at a problem and expect regular people to jump onboard.

The iPad and soon to be released similar products from others AREN’T for geeks that like to play with hardware and software. They’re for regular people that just want to do stuff and do it easier with worrying if their bank passwords are going to end up in Russia or China. Apple sees it. Microsoft and Google see it. The regular buying publics sees it. As usual, it’s the tech geeks that are out of step and that’s not necessarily bad since it’s YOU guys that will eventually create what comes next. And it will be even easier to use than what’s out now.