We Can't Stop Here: Apple's "Social Software Engineering" Model
So I've been thinking.
Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either)
This is a great critical evaluation of the iPad. I can see why people say their iPhone, or to a lesser extent iTouch, is an invaluable asset to their lives. College students will be the first to tell you they are completely addicted to theirs. In all fairness, though, the iPhone does allow people to do a whole lot more with a whole lot less -- gone are the days where productivity only came with a bulky laptop in tow.
That said, Doctrow brings up a number of good points as to why one should consider buying -- or rather, not buying -- an iPad: it's both a question of necessity and a question of practicality. Are you an iPhone/iTouch owner so enamored by the system that you need a larger, tablet-sized device that works just like it? Do you find yourself needing more real estate on your iPhone?
Beyond the physical questions, though, Doctrow brings up some good points as to the psychology behind the device, and the implications it carries:
"The way you improve your iPad isn't to figure out how it works and making it better. The way you improve the iPad is to buy iApps. Buying an iPad for your kids isn't a means of jump-starting the realization that the world is yours to take apart and reassemble; it's a way of telling your offspring that even changing the batteries is something you have to leave to the professionals."
One might argue that this era of hands-off computing really started with laptops, but those are not nearly as proprietary and safeguarded away from consumers' prying hands and eyes as Apple products are. Overlooking that, this may very well mark the beginning of an uncomfortable time for more hardware-oriented PC engineers and retailers, who risk being further marginalized from an incredibly large market share lest they enter the market with a competing product. The number of future hardware engineers will probably dwindle with the influx of hands-off product development. For every 30 kids that enter into some sort of computer science field for college, the number of kids that will want to work with hardware -- embedded systems, microprocessors, all of the physical attributes of what makes Apple products so desirable -- could continually drop due to a lack of exposure to physical systems. Many of them may know multiple programming languages before they even show up -- some of them could even be already-successful iPad developers -- but their knowledge of hardware will continue to steadily decline as they are exposed to products that protect them from the very systems they would like to make careers out of manipulating.
Not to mention the software development groundswell that has all but turned into a flood, with thousands of iPhone apps fully compatible with the iPad as well as over 3,000 apps currently available exclusively for the iPad with no signs of stopping. Is this developing craze of making individual components of a veritable all-in-one tool going to become a bubble, careening headlong into bursting itself further down the line? Is there really a limit to the kinds of apps one could make if the marketplace is immediately international, and your distribution and storage channels are taken care of for you? If you hope not and say no, respectively, keep going.
The issue then, with applications for the iPad/iPhone as well as other platforms (Droid, Blackberry, etc.), is not the distribution of your product, but rather raising awareness: if the playing field is completely level when it comes to distribution, your competitive options are limited to how much your service offers over another competitor, and how much awareness is raised for the app itself. This is why I insist now -- and will continue to insist -- that a vital role for any app developer, if not one of the most vital roles, is on the creative end. Because, let's face it: apps are a social experience now. Sure, you can have your Twitter account and your Facebook page and your news leaks to tech blogs, but the absolute best advertisers you have are your customers, now moreso than ever. People download your app, show their iPad/iPhone-equipped friends how much they like it, and boom: more guaranteed downloads. The aforementioned services give you an international presence, but only online: by mounting your software to a mobile platform, you essentially make your product tangible, and with that, offline word-of-mouth becomes much more viable. The best programmer in the world will hold a small stake in the app market if they don't have a strong social presence, and it works both ways: a mediocre app with many legitimate, technically-stronger competitors may win customers over simply because of a stellar social campaign. In order to move an app into the spotlight, you have to not only be aware of how valuable each customer is, but you also have to make a concerted effort to become the facilitator of that "hey, that's cool!" word-of-mouth advertising. Simply tossing your apps to the wolves with no social presence is like removing the McDonald's from the Big Mac: it's just another burger, and one that the Big Mac's competitors would like you to compare to their equivalent product and will actively pursue making you do so. It's easier than most think, especially with how common blogs have become and the advent of Twitter. It's sometimes astounding how often social presence is neglected, overlooked, or underestimated.
So if, then, the app bubble is indeed a bubble, there's nothing to suggest that it would stop growing for years to come, nor may it ever burst...until Apple once again makes its own product obsolete, at least. Until then, the best apps--both old and new--will either dominate their line of service, or have a stellar social campaign supporting them. Or, as many successful apps have already proven, both.
