Bold decisions in Product Marketing…

Apple & Steve Jobs are of course known for Marketing… But thought the following snippet drives home their bold decision to develop iPad for a market that did not exist – contrary to most Marketing theories of listening to the market.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/05/curated-computing-whats-next-for-devices-in-a-post-ipad-world.ars

“One month prior to the iPad’s launch, a Forrester survey of more than 4,500 US online consumers revealed the top features consumers said they wanted in their next PC purchase. Two-thirds of US online consumers want a DVD drive, but this feature, along with other most-wanted features like CD burners and webcams, are absent from the iPad. The iPad’s features, such as the touchscreen, are lower on consumers’ wish list, with only 22 percent desiring a touchscreen for their next PC.”

Envisioning the post-iPad world of personal computers…

First, let me start by saying that I’m a big fan of my iPhone & iPad… Is it perfect? No! Not by far!

• iPad is cumbersome. Holding it in one hand & reading is guaranteed to cause pain. Typing on the iPad for any length of time is sure to aggravate your carpal-tunnel syndrome
• Viewing movies on iPad is far from satisfying.
• But it is good enough for consuming small amounts of data regularly. And the iPad is a very capable computing device powerful enough to do most common personal computing tasks – browsing, emails, videos, docs.

So, what will the future post-iPad computers look like?

• Display & the actual computer will be decoupled.
• The computer will be the one that accompanies you all the time – your future superphone.
• The display as well as the keyboard/mouse will be a separate device that is appropriate to the task at hand – either a TV or a projector or a tablet or a laptop or just a small phone display.
• Your computer will always be connected – Wifi or 4G.
• But the data on your computer will all come from the cloud –  or atleast be backed up there. So losing your computer wont be as traumatic.

To some extent, the Atrix 4G is a sign of what’s to come in the post-iPad world.