Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Purpose

Not all feathers aide in flight; some are just for decoration.

Not all letters need response; some simply need to be written.

Not all yarn needs to become a sweater or hat for warmth; sometimes a wee animal is the result of the knotting.

And not every dream needs to come true; some are imagined to keep the spirit active.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Um, so are you telling me to wait?

Anyone else seen the new television commerical for the iPad?

I'm not understanding the marketing ploy here. It seems simple enough: the voice-over questioning what word a doctor would use to describe the contrapion, then a child, then a musician and all the workds make sense: intuitive, progressive, magical, blah blah blah.

But then at the end, after all of these inspirational one-word platitudes about how marvelous this invention is, Apple says if they had to describe it, they would say, "Just getting started." Um, so are you telling me NOT to buy it now, but rather wait because the iPad 2 is just getting started and the next one and the one after that and the one after that will be so much better, lighter, more magical?

"As for us, we are just getting started, so save your money until we create something even more incredible."

"We are just getting started, so no need to rush out now, because the iPad will only get better."

"We are just getting started, so wait until we've perfected."

We all know as consumers and lovers of this invention (I've written six letters to Steve Jobs requesting one -- sometimes as a gift and sometimes in exchange for literary or written favors. He's ignored all.) but this commercial does the opposite of what we know marketing to do -- it doesn't inspire me to buy one. It inspires me to wait.

Is this what they had in mind? "Don't purchase our product, but rather wait a year or two." Could be clever, and beyond my economic scope to make sense of this.

In the meantime, I guess I will wait. After all, I'm getting pretty darn used to it at this juncture.