Apple Watch - Nir and Far - Episode #2

Hi, I'm Nir Eyal and this is the near and Far Podcast. This podcast is about business, behavior and the brain. On this show, I do a few things. I read quick articles I've written about topics shaping your behavior. I interview authors of books I enjoy, and from time to time I devote episodes to answering your questions. If you want to ask me a question, visit the podcast page on itunes, go to Ratings and Reviews and ask me a question. By leaving a review, I promise to read it and possibly include your question in a future episode. So please ask me anything now. Enjoy the episode and for more, you can always Visit me@nearandfar.com.

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Here's why you'll hate the Apple Watch and the important business lesson you need to know. By Nir Eyal Narrated by Nir Eyal if you are among the 19 million people Apple predicts will buy an Apple Watch, I have some bad news for you. I'm betting there's an important feature missing from the watch that's going to drive you nuts. That doesn't mean you shouldn't buy one. In fact, I'm ordering one myself. However, this paradox illustrates an important lesson for the way companies design their products. Rarely are version one products very good. How is it then that some products thrive despite flagrant shortcomings? Meet Mr. Kano. To find out why you'll likely be disappointed by the Apple Watch, meet Professor Noriaki Kano. In the 1980s, Professor Kano developed a model to explain a theory of customer satisfaction. Kano believed products have particular attributes which are directly responsible for users happiness. He discovered that some qualities matter more than others. Kano described three product attributes, loosely translated from Japanese as delightful, linear and hygienic features. A delightful feature is an attribute of a product that customers love but do not expect. For example, if the Apple Watch made you coffee every morning, that would be a delightfully surprising feature. A linear feature, on the other hand, is one users expect more of that quality increases satisfaction Battery life is an example of a linear feature of the Apple Watch. You trust that it will last all day, but the more juice the battery has, the less you need to charge it and the happier you are. Customers are typically able to articulate the linear attributes of a product. I want it to have longer battery life, whereas by definition they can't tell they want a delightful feature until they've seen it in action. Like knowing the punchline of a joke. If you know what to expect, it fails to delight. Finally, hygienic or basic features are must haves. Customers not only expect these attributes, they depend on them. If the Apple Watch is bad at telling time, for example, you would undoubtedly be very tick tocked off. Sorry for the pun. Ellen DeGeneres tweeted a sardonic comment that perfectly illustrates what happens when we make a basic feature sound like a delighter. Ellen tweeted so excited for the Apple Watch. For centuries, we've checked the time by looking at our phones having it on our wrist Genius joking aside, Apple CEO Tim Cook knows just how important telling the time is for an expensive timepiece. Cook emphasized that the device is accurate within 50 milliseconds. In addition, when the battery is almost depleted, the watch kicks into power reserve mode, shutting down everything but the ability to see the time. Obviously, Apple understands telling time is a hygienic feature. However, when it comes to this basic feature, something is still missing. Which finally brings me to what will likely annoy you about the Apple Watch Inconspicuous consumption. A basic attribute of any watch is that it allows wearers to see the time all the time. With a regular watch, checking the time couldn't be easier. You only need to glance down to know what time it is. Not so with the Apple Watch. To save battery life, the watch goes dark when it thinks you're not using it. To turn it back on, you have to shake the device with enough momentum to, in Apple's words, activate on wrist raise. Early Apple Watch reviewer Jon Gruber wrote about his experience wearing the device during the end of a meeting with a friend. He says it got to three o' clock or so and I started glancing at my watch every few minutes, but it was always off. The only way I could check the time was to artificially flick my wrist or to use my right hand to tap the screen. In either case, a far heavier gesture than the mere glance I'd have needed with my regular watch. Who hasn't sat across from an overly gabby colleague wondering whether you'll be late for your next meeting? If we bother to wear a watch, we expect to be able to see the time at a glance. But if telling the time on your Apple watch requires a spastic wrist jolt, you'll curse it, gruber continued. For regular watch wearers, it's going to take some time getting used to, and it's always going to bit of an inconvenience compared to an always glanceable watch. It's a fundamental conflict. A regular watch never turns off, but a display like Apple Watches can't always stay on. The problem is significant enough that other smart watchmakers already see Apple's failings as an opportunity. The recently announced Pebble Time, for example, uses a low power color epaper display and never goes dark. You'll still buy it. Of course, all this doesn't mean you're not going to buy the watch. Apple may very well make the Wake feature so sensitive that few people are troubled by it. After all, even an obvious wrist shake is better than the inconvenience of checking the time by taking out your phone. However, greater turn on sensitivity will come at the expense of battery life, a compromise consumers aren't going to be happy about. To avoid disappointment, keep your expectations low and be prepared to miss some basic features you'd expect from even a cheap watch. Remember, in the beginning, the iPhone had its problems. Apple's choice of AT&T as the exclusive service provider for the first few generations of the iPhone meant more dropped calls and poor reception. The device was often loathed for its inability to deliver the basic Kano feature customers expect most from a phone, namely to complete a call. Over time, the technology improved.

But why did people put up with.

These seemingly fatal flaws for so long? Here again, the KANO model helps us better understand the mindset of consumers. People kept using and often praising the iPhone because the delight factor made up for its lack of basic attributes. Mainly, Apple's App Store and its near infinite variety of nifty solutions provide a constant stream of delightful features even Steve Jobs could never have imagined. The iPhone still doesn't make coffee, but it does so many other surprising things you didn't know that it could do when you bought it, from checking your heartbeat to identifying constellations that you overlook its flaws. As for the Apple Watch, over time, Apple will no doubt fix quirks in the first generation, just as it did with subsequent iPhone editions. Ultimately, better battery life or alternative screens will keep future versions lit throughout the day. But the real delighter behind the Apple Watch, like the iPhone, will be the apps. Cook recently sent an email to Apple employees announcing that more than 1,000 apps have already been submitted. Expect future generations of the Apple Watch to have more delightful features customers currently don't expect, like new apps and other improvements. My money is betting that the Apple Watch 2 will come with a forward facing camera, which wearers will discover makes taking pictures even easier and faster and than using their phones. And it adds an element of delight every time they take a surprisingly good shot. We have a love hate relationship with technology, and the Apple Watch will be no exception. By applying Kano's model, companies can overcome the unavoidable deficiencies that come with new products by building in features that continue to surprise and impress. So here's the gist. Dr. Noriaki Kano developed a revealing model for understanding how various product features affect customer happiness. A delightful feature is an attribute of the product customers love but do not expect. For example, new apps in the App Store. A linear feature is one the user expects, and more of that quality increases satisfaction. Think more battery life. A hygienic feature is a must have. Customers not only expect these attributes, they depend on them. For example reliably telling the time on a watch to save battery life. Apple designed the Apple Watch to only display the time when it thinks you're looking at it. This violates a hygienic feature and will annoy users. However, like the first version of the iPhone, users will forgive the Watch's flaws if the delightful features, namely the apps in the App Store, knock their socks off. Products can win markets by ensuring their delighter features compensate for flaws. Thanks for listening to this episode of the near and Far Podcast. You can always find more at my blog, nearandfar.com and don't forget, if you have a question you'd like me to explore in a future episode, leave me your question, the former review or for the podcast on itunes.