Robots vs People: Or why Android device marketing is just weird.

After the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Tab (the Tab) teaser yesterday, much has already been made about the similarities between the Tab  and iPad interfaces. While this move makes headlines, it is not entirely unexpected. The unequivocal success of the iPad proves that the iOS interface paradigm works for tablet navigation, and if you’re playing catch-up in the marketplace, the shortest pathway to launch is to copy instead of innovate.

It’s the Marketing

What’s interesting about the Tab preview (and the Droid 2 marketing) is the totally different mood and message the Android device makers use to sell what are essentially copycat devices. Compare the Samsung Galaxy Tab preview, and the Droid 2 launch video:

…to the iPad launch video:

What a stark difference. The Android device identity centers around technology and features. We have more of x than the other guy, and that’s what’s important. Both of these identities have a very futuristic, sci-fi feel – something The Terminator can positively identify with.

Contrast that with how Apple markets the iPad. It is all about the experience – the way the device will change the way you access the important and interestng information in your life. The repetitive phrases throughout the video are all experiential:

“Experience”

“It just feels right”

“There is no wrong way to hold it”

“You just …do!”

“Reading on it is such a pleasure”

Apple does talk hard features, but they’re buried in a short segment 6 minutes in, and almost always tied to a direct experiential benefit that makes using the device better.

So What’s So Weird?

Geeks, Nerds, Techies: These sobriquets refer to a special type of person – someone who is not only a tech enthusiast, but a feature enthusiast. To Techies, the feature list is not just a toolkit for completing tasks, it’s a yardstick to measures superiority. And the Android device makers’ advertising speaks directly to them. They’ll be confident that they are carrying the tablet or phone with the most features, and it puts a huge grin on their faces as they compare with other techies, or try to ” show up” their colleague’s iPad, which lacks a camera and USB port.

But Techies aren’t Regular People. They are, and will remain a small percentage of a very rapidly growing mobile device consumer marketplace. Regular People don’t choose mobile devices based on features. Regular People want something that just lets them do what they want to do.

To a Regular Person, a simple, non-threatening interface that lets Grandma video chat with her grandchildren is more important than the number of megapixels the phone’s camera has. They no longer need to be afraid of terms, figures and technology they don’t understand.

The Golden Age of Accessibility

What Apple has done with the iPhone and the iPad is to usher the world into the next generation of computing – a Golden Age, if you will. In this new age, technology works so well that sheer features and functionality have been abstracted away to become accessible experiences. The “computing” has been removed from the computer. Instead of plugs, updates and ports, the user only need be concerned with what they want to do next.

The car industry went through the accessibility transformation around 15 years ago. Cars are now so complex, the technology had to been abstracted away so the Regular People could understand and use their new cars. Regular People don’t need to understand the features or mechanics. They just get in and experience driving.

What is Your Experience?

Transforming your brand from a features and benefits discussion to an experiential movement centered around accessibility is quite the profitable endeavor. Other than Techies, how many people do you know who are passionate about their Android phone? How many Regular People with iPhones do you know that incessantly gush about them?

I suspect that the iPhone’s and iPad’s eventual move to all US carriers is going to be a game-changing event. I proffer that most people don’t really connect with the Android device makers’ identities, and are only using these devices because they either cheaper or are one of the few touchscreens available from their carrier.