I waited in line for a few hours yesterday and purchased an iPhone. I avoided the Apple store on Michigan Ave and instead found a small AT&T store near me that wasn’t that bad with the wait. After playing with the phone for half a day now, I’m still saying WOW.
I’m on the fence about replacing my Treo with this as my phone. Most things I love about the Treo the iPhone does poorly: composing an e-mail, keeping my contacts, calendar, email synced and updating all of those items on the go. But the iPhone does a TON of new things incredibly well that the Treo can’t touch: browsing the web, music, photos, video, and checking voicemail. And most of all, I’m amazed how how fun it is to use. Even though this is a gadget with buttons and a screen, surprisingly, it has the fun-factor of a mechanical puzzle. In every single application: flicking, stretching, pinching, and sliding the interface is just plain fun.
There are a lot of great reviews (Pogue’s and Mossberg’s), but aside from the issue of whether to purchase an iPhone or not, there are some really interesting software design lessons to take away from what Apple has done. And even though this is a hardware “gadget,” 90% of the brilliance is in the software.
Every truly great piece of software I’ve used was great because it focused on a very specific need and it addressed that need incredibly well: the “less is more” philosophy. At first, when you see the list of features, it seems that the iPhone is the antithesis of this approach. But unlike most focused software, the iPhone’s focus is horizontal rather than vertical. Yes, it has a lot of applications, but in each application they only cared about half of the usual functions–in every application the focus is on retrieving information, not entering it. It’s an interesting design decision and it works surprising well.
This is most evidence in the biggest hardware decision: 100% screen, 0% keyboard. Screens are for retrieving information, keyboards are for entering information. I think the only reason they even included the on-screen keyboard is for the simple inputs like entering an address into Google maps, entering a URL into the web browser, etc that can’t be avoided when you’re trying to retrieve. In fact, 75% of the time I use my Treo it’s to read email, check and appointment, retrieve driving directions. However, one common task I perform on my Treo is when someone emails me a time to meet, and I copy and paste their address and phone number into a new appointment. There is no copy and paste anywhere in the iPhone, copy and paste is for entering information, not retrieving it.
Take away: You can narrow the scope of your application by focusing horizontally rather than vertically.
The second interesting take away: I knew interfaces could be poorly designed and confusing or well design and easy to use. The iPhone has elevated interface design to a new level; interfaces can be made fun. It’s hard enough to design an interface that is easy to use, and I would have thought the extra effort to take it beyond easy into the realm of fun would not be worth it. With any product you hit a point of diminishing returns when you are trying to improve a particular aspect of it, I would have thought “fun” would be in the realm of diminishing returns. But I’m amazed how much the “fun” adds.
Over the years I’ve noticed one of the biggest differences between “expert” users of computers and “novice” users is their willingness to explore a piece of software. Novices memorize a series of steps to get the computer to accomplish a desired tasks. Experts explore the software and come to intuitively understand the underlying mental model governing its design, this enables them to teach themselves new uses of the program. There is an analogy in mathematics: novices memorize the steps to apply a certain formula, experts understand the underlying meaning of the formula, they can apply this knowledge in ways beyond just the simple steps.
Take away: What does “fun” have to do with this? If an interface is “fun”, even novice users will be motivated to explore it and “accidentally” develop a deeper understanding of it, and hopefully get some of the same benefits that experts do from using it.
Real sharp analysis, Keith. I’ve found myself defending the iPhone experience for its simplicity and intuitiveness to people who argue that it doesn’t offer anything better than the current stock of smart phones and PDAs out there — and this was before I’d even touched one. Now that I finally have, the difference is mind-blowing. It’s like people are saying — it’s like using something from the future. The depeer meaning there, I think, is that it just KNOWS what you want to do and makes it easier to do it. That seems so futuristic because so few devices care to do that.
You will love this. I commute to Saint Charles almost every day. So, on Sat. I got in my car, went to T store, no line, no fuss.
I am looking to change my usage to best take advantage of iPhone. Best part was turning on wifi and “it just works.”
Looks like my IPod goes up to my museum of cell stuff along with Radio Mail, Palm, etc……
More than anything I feel like the iPhone ups-the-ante. When I pick up my Treo it feels like a toy compared to this. The keyboard is getting better…
When I first began seeing the commercials and ads for the IPhone, I thought it was too good to be true: a device that makes/receives phone calls, plays MP3s, and has a compact user interface that allows me to browse the web just as easily as on my laptop?! You’ve gotta be kidding! But so far, the reviews have been quite good from people like you, Keith, who have actually purchased one. I’ve gotta get one!
Its interesting that its not being touched on more but perhaps one of the most important parts of the iPhone is how its browser reduces the need to develop mobile compatible versions of a site.