So Apple has long survived on the belief that its products are more intuitive than its competitors. Hard to believe, really, since Mac sales have lagged behind Windows machines for as long as Ive lived. If they were really so intuitive, wouldn't we have switched ages ago? Yet Apple's marketing team has convinced every tech magazine writer and many consumers that in fact this is the case. Apple makes products that work the way the brain works.
The first time I sat in front of a Mac, I was trying to write an email. I was in Kathmandu, Nepal at the Peace Corps office trying to send a note home letting people know I was alright (well, at least physically). I couldnt find the applications that had been installed on the machine. I pressed a few buttons, clicked on some icons, finally found a list of "Recent Applications" which unfortunately didnt contain the email client, clicked some more buttons, clicked harder, got upset, shook the mouse, clicked harder, hit the mouse, and left. Fifteen minutes and I couldnt even open an application. That was my first introduction to "how my brain works".
I did eventually use a Mac successfully. It was in that same office a few months later. It was somewhat less frustrating but it took me 45 minutes to do what would have taken me 20 on a Windows machine. Trying to go between applications was like trying to find socks in the dark. I kept pulling up the wrong application. I knew I had started an email, but as soon as I went to the web browser I couldnt see it anymore. I finally found it again only to have the same thing happen 5 minutes later. If it really worked the way my brain worked, I would have at least remembered how to find my previous window after having successfully done it moments before.
I irritably powered through a frustrating web experience with a Mac book in Nigeria a few years ago, Ive sat dumb founded in front of an iPad on the Eastern Shore, Ive yelled at iTunes in as many countries as Ive lived, and Ive nearly thrown out my wife's iPod on at least three separate occasions. But none really reflect how Apple products arent intuitive (at least to me) better than my time at the Apple store. The iPhone had just come out, nobody knew how to use it, but we were told we all knew how to use it. So I picked it up, typed an sms, "Hi Dyd, ab thy Apple stair, hand a god day", went to the web browser, and started trying to figure out how to do some of the basics I knew I could do. Like refresh. Expanding the page. Closing the window. In truth, I could probably do most of these things now that Ive learned how, but prior to learning how I had no idea. Really. I almost threw the iPhone against the wall in the Apple store. That would have been bad.
Of course there is another plausible explanation. That Im just not that smart. I think there is a statistic that 80% of the world believes they are smarter than average. And probably a similar percentage believe their blogs are worth reading as well. Maybe Im just not as smart as I think. I wont defend myself here. If I am really the only person who doesnt get Apple products, there is really no other logical conclusion. But Im betting that if I had thrown that iPhone against the wall, amidst the frantic cries of children and mothers tossing their kids behind a row of desktops, I would have heard one of the staff saying, "Not again!"
The first time I sat in front of a Mac, I was trying to write an email. I was in Kathmandu, Nepal at the Peace Corps office trying to send a note home letting people know I was alright (well, at least physically). I couldnt find the applications that had been installed on the machine. I pressed a few buttons, clicked on some icons, finally found a list of "Recent Applications" which unfortunately didnt contain the email client, clicked some more buttons, clicked harder, got upset, shook the mouse, clicked harder, hit the mouse, and left. Fifteen minutes and I couldnt even open an application. That was my first introduction to "how my brain works".
I did eventually use a Mac successfully. It was in that same office a few months later. It was somewhat less frustrating but it took me 45 minutes to do what would have taken me 20 on a Windows machine. Trying to go between applications was like trying to find socks in the dark. I kept pulling up the wrong application. I knew I had started an email, but as soon as I went to the web browser I couldnt see it anymore. I finally found it again only to have the same thing happen 5 minutes later. If it really worked the way my brain worked, I would have at least remembered how to find my previous window after having successfully done it moments before.
I irritably powered through a frustrating web experience with a Mac book in Nigeria a few years ago, Ive sat dumb founded in front of an iPad on the Eastern Shore, Ive yelled at iTunes in as many countries as Ive lived, and Ive nearly thrown out my wife's iPod on at least three separate occasions. But none really reflect how Apple products arent intuitive (at least to me) better than my time at the Apple store. The iPhone had just come out, nobody knew how to use it, but we were told we all knew how to use it. So I picked it up, typed an sms, "Hi Dyd, ab thy Apple stair, hand a god day", went to the web browser, and started trying to figure out how to do some of the basics I knew I could do. Like refresh. Expanding the page. Closing the window. In truth, I could probably do most of these things now that Ive learned how, but prior to learning how I had no idea. Really. I almost threw the iPhone against the wall in the Apple store. That would have been bad.
Of course there is another plausible explanation. That Im just not that smart. I think there is a statistic that 80% of the world believes they are smarter than average. And probably a similar percentage believe their blogs are worth reading as well. Maybe Im just not as smart as I think. I wont defend myself here. If I am really the only person who doesnt get Apple products, there is really no other logical conclusion. But Im betting that if I had thrown that iPhone against the wall, amidst the frantic cries of children and mothers tossing their kids behind a row of desktops, I would have heard one of the staff saying, "Not again!"
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