Piers Jones

Playing with the iPad

New York Times app on iPad at launch at San Francisco Apple Store 141, originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes.

I managed to borrow an iPad from a colleague last night. Just for work related research you understand.

So here were my first impressions:

• Of course the Guardian eyewitness app is beautiful and I'm really not just saying that
• Its much easier to read with on a train than a laptop, the touchscreen means that you are no longer 'all elbows' with the person sitting next to you. Even if the iPad changes dramatically over the next few versions, touch screen interfaces are here to stay and just make sense when you start using them on a larger device.
• Pictures and video look great, games are even better.
• I wasn't so impressed with all the page turning animation in the books app, it seems unnecessary to pretend that this device is made of paper. Its really easy to read text in long form though I've never tried using a kindle or e-book to be able to compare the experience.
• It feels a lot more sharable than a 'mobile device' I always feel like I am handing someone my wallet if I give them my phone for something, its just very personal. Not so with the iPad which I can see as something that you could share with family and friends.

Then I handed the iPad over to my 4 1/2 year old son. He picked it up instantly and within seconds he had found the labyrinth game that he liked and was moving everything around the screen. Then straight onto Youtube and asking me to find him dinosaur videos. There is no barrier to using this type of device at all, like needing to type the right letters or use a mouse. That makes it perfect for younger children or maybe older people that have never learned to use a computer.

Even though I was very impressed I still don't think I'll be buying one for a while yet. It's really nice, just too expensive for me for what it does and I'll wait to see if the price comes down. I can get away with doing most of the things I need to do on myiPhone for now.

Magazines on a tablet

With the arrival of hardware like tablet PCs people will be able to consume news and media in new ways that build on how they read print but take advantage of the capabilities of online.

I can't help thinking that the iphone user interface has had a major part to play in shaping how that might look for the next few years.

I like this concept  for reading magazine content on a tablet called Mag+ from from Bonnier and can imagine myself reading a magazine like this on the train. What do you think?

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

thanks to one man and his blog for finding this over a coffee

Talking to users of your product

It goes without saying that the more people that you talk to that actually use your product, the closer you are going to get to understanding what they need. Then you stand some kind of chance of delivering a product that actually meets those needs. However its very easy to forget to do that as often as you should and get wrapped up in the process of delivering products instead.

In my experience as a Product Manager to date I've found a variety of ways of taking feedback from users in order to improve the quality of what is delivered. There are times when pouring over web stats or undertaking formal usability testing is exactly what is called for. Sometimes though its just good to get out of the office and go and talk to people.

Today I tried out a new and very easy way of gathering product insight by using some software called Silverbackapp. I had know about this software for a while but never actually used it in the wild so to speak.

Its very very simple, you can talk to website users and as you have a conversation with them the software records the on-screen activity as well as filming a video of people's reaction to the product. This all plays back in a video at the end.

With the expert help of Martin Belam - we recorded quite a number of sessions today from website users. I hope the results will help us design some improvements to the product we were discussing based on those insights. I would recommend silverback app to anyone wanting to try more informal testing of their product - as well as recommending that getting out from behind your desk and talking to real customers is a really worthwhile thing to do for anyone in product development. You learn a great deal for free, just by asking.

Here's a video explaining silverbackapp in more detail:

eco-friendly packaging

Sennheiser CX 300 - eco-friendly packaging, originally uploaded by spjwebster.

It's not often that I notice the packaging for any product. Apart from the fact that there is far too much of it, it just gets thrown away and is a complete waste.

One exception to the rule is the Sennheiser in-ear headphones which I recently got for my iPhone. They were posted (via Amazon) in a really cool cardboard box made entirely from recycled paper.

I hope other manufacturers follow suit and do away with all that unecessary plastic stuff.