Understanding your audience
In the early 2000s, Bill Gates observed a growing problem.
Mobile phone screens were too small and laptops too baulky to carry out many types of computer tasks on the move.
Not wishing to miss out on a lucrative opportunity, Gates hastily assembled a team at Microsoft.
He set them the brief of developing a ‘tablet’ style device that he believed would offer the perfect half-way house between a phone and laptop.
In 2002, after millions of dollars of investment, Microsoft launched the Tablet PC.
Despite an expensive launch campaign, the product was a major flop.
Just eight years later, Apple released the iPad which became a wild success.
So why did it succeed when Microsoft’s Tablet PC didn’t?
A major factor was that Steve Jobs realised people didn’t want all the functions of a PC in miniature.
Instead, they wanted a stylish, lightweight device they could surf the Internet, read emails and review presentations on.
Jobs wisely identified this need and put forward the intuitive iPad as the perfect solution.
Having empathy is an invaluable part of product design.
Getting inside the minds of your customers and ‘feeling’ how they feel gives valuable insights into solving their problems.
In turn, this leads to better solutions and more successful products.
