Now that the device is on sale, the dust has settled  a bit and only Europeans (and the rest of the non-US world) are still kept on their toes until beginning of May (when the iPad will be available in stores outside the USA), I’d like to share quick thoughts about what was going on last past weeks and what we can learn from it.

Mainstream is what people talk about all the time – punto finale.

I was flabbergasted by the amount of conversations, online and IRL, around this electronic device. That readers of computing news websites comment and discuss the new gizmo from Cuppertino, I am used to. But iPad was everywhere: in daily newspaper, weekly magazines, women’s beauty blogs, sports TV shows… Apple Inc. didn’t simply demonstrate their art in marketing and communication – so far the only paid advertisement for the iPad was broadcast during the Superbowl. You can watch it here. They just make any other attempt at creating awareness and attention to any product simply lame and useless. iPad got it all, for almost free.

Crazy or genius? (c) Life Magazine

Older readers may recall the similar (but epicly failed) attempt at creating awareness (no, I won’t use the word buzz) around a supposedly revolutionary product. “Cities will have to be redesigned because of this invention” we were told, “it would be as significant as the personal computer” said Steve Jobs, even more important than the Internet. Oh My. The secret project was called “Ginger.” The whole campaign took place in 2002-2003 and in my internet bubble of that time, we were only talking about this invention. More important than the internet? My best-investment-banker-friend bet on a second pair of breasts for females. It turned out all the mess was for the Segway (over 50 000 shipped in total in 2009), a kind of gyro-electro-mode-of-transportation that hasn’t changed the world we live in. For the record, once Steve Jobs saw the Segway, he supposedly said: “it sucks”.

So, iPad was everywhere for almost free in marketing and communication costs. As a professional in the communication field, I have to tip my hat for that. But there is worse (or better).

Our baby-masseur asked me about the iPad. Readers of French conservative newspaper Le Figaro debated about the iPad.

People talked about iPad voluntarily.

Our baby-masseur asked me about the iPad. Readers of French conservative newspaper Le Figaro debated about the iPad. For what I know, even my cat wants one – to sleep on without the misconfort of the keyboard. Last time I encountered such a frenzy on an European subject was the referendum to the New Constitution in France. Everyone had a (free) copy of the treaty. People were discussing it everywhere, in Paris and in the countryside. That was mainstream. We know how it ended.

One aspect of my job is to communicate what the European Parliament does, how it can affect the citizen. Most of the time, I draft tables and I send e-mails, but the above is part of my job. As a team, we write about the EP, we launched a Facebook page which is quite lively, we have a MySpace profile, we twitter, you name it. And yet, we rarely reach the Mainstream league, the one that really matters. The one which was obsessed with the iPad (they moved to other subject now).

Seth Godin wrote his analysis on the iPad factors of success. As always with him, one can apply the rules to every project – European communication included.

The iPad puts users first

Two weeks ago, I bought a new DVD player – the cat was bored at home.

I won’t play the digital psychic enlightening you with my personal vision about the iPad and what it brings to the future of Personal Computing – suffice to say I share the views expressed in this story by Gizmodo. But, as an old-time Apple user (coming from years spent in PC environment and still using PC at work), there is one thing one can’t deny: Apple puts users first. The company makes choice for their users, choices that lead to infinite debate amongst Mac-fans, PC-lovers and everyone interested in the devices – while people discuss those choices, Apple sold 13 million iPhones since its release in 2007. Mobile phones existed before – even I had one. But I hardly used it for texting. I never checked my mail or browsed on the web with it. Because it wasn’t easy enough.

Two weeks ago, I bought a new DVD player – the cat was bored at home. The model is recent, made by Sony. It can read DVD from two sources: physical disc or USB key. Two sources, one function. Guess what: it doesn’t propose you to select your source when you switch it on. It doesn’t detect automatically if there is a disc and/or a USB key plugged in. You have to browse the menu and click five times before you can launch your movie. Five times. In a menu nobody understands the icons. My cat can’t use it alone. One could expect that a major electronic maker in 2010 would have learnt the lesson: make it simple, decide for the users. Apple would have done it simpler.

The problem with users: they all want something different.

Users first: it’s an easy mantra, one we repeat in all our meetings and workshop on the EP new digital strategy Steve told you about. Everyone agrees. And then, someone mentions that peculiar feature so important for him that none of us ever heard of. Or this particular group of interest, this specific category of legislative document. They all have to be on the top page. On every page, even. At the end, you don’t know whose users you are considering. Do users actually exist? Do they dream of digital sheep?

Users first but not only

The problem with users: they all want something different. Read some threads about the iPad, the iPhone or the latest upgrades of MacBook Pro. All users complain. Few years ago, a major car company launched a car designed by users via focus groups. The car had everything users wanted: big trunk, powerful engine, Italian klaxon. They almost did not sell any. The car was ugly. Not appealing. It was worse than a designed-by-a-committee car, it was a designed-by-a-committee-of-users car.

Am I contradicting myself?

Put users first and then decide for them. Don’t lose this control over your product functionalities, over your editorial line. You’ll lose it anyway if you go for a consensus. Apple Inc. is neither a democracy in action nor a philanthropic organization. Their aim is to earn money. Stories about Steve Jobs’ leadership are exciting and frightening. The guy knows what he wants. He seems to be stubborn, demanding, autocratic if I am to judge by what I read on the net. But you can’t deny he has a vision and quite a lot of talents. He’s involved in his products (his name appears in one out of ten patents made by Apple). He decides for you. You are free NOT to buy Apple’s products – which is why I am always surprised by the level of passion in comments on, say, the iPad – but most Apple buyers seem to be happy with their expensive toys/tools.

The answer lays in the leadership – possibly

Great leaders achieve more. Hardly alone. They need a team (in old times, you’d have called that an army), they need support, they need specialists. In exchange, they offer vision, management, decisions and responsibilities.

I am like most of you. I am not a leader. But I try to speak out what I think when it comes to my field of interest or of labor. I call for debate, exchanges and for real decisions. I try to have people I work with expressing their ideas, taking positions, using their creativity. Of course, our particular environment makes us search for consensus (maybe too often?). And we also have the culture to ask too many people’s opinions – we won’t create the next iPad. But we do push the lines, from time to time, and we hope we’ll keep that way.

Will it work for the future digital strategy of our institution? We had 12 workshops and brainstormings so far, with internal users, colleagues from other institutions, experts from the outside world and comments onthis blog. All meetings were animated. Hot debates. Lines of thought. Field of doubts. We will have two or three workshops before the summer. We will conduct a usability study soon with real users. We will then draft a possible strategy. We’ll keep you posted.

And yes, I might get myself an iPad in May. There have been too many treats for the cat lately; time for payback.