How much do you want to own an iTablet

I have drawn a graph for you to help you understand if you want to own an iTablet.

The line down the middle denotes Apple Love. The closer you are to it, the more you want it and the further away, the less you care

Click on the image to enlarge

An Apple a day? Call the doctor

I know that a lot of journalists make a point of letting the reader know what device(s) they are using, but the disproportionality of the current coverage (vs importance) must be verging on some anti-competitive, story-fixing, conflict of interest issue. I'm sure there are many people like me who are not interested and don't care, but are unlikely to have their voice heard in the current 'I'd die for Steve Jobs more painfully than you would' competition that is currently playing out in the media.

Reasons I don't care:
I have never used an iPod, nor ever felt the desire or need to have my music stored digitally. It’s invention has had zero impact on my life, except loud music on buses - ergo a negative impact on my life. (I did actually own one, but my computer wasn’t high spec enough to run the software).

I don't own nor have ever used an iPhone. The revolution here is really the app store (which was not new anyway) and the community that it encouraged to get creative. Suddenly people worked to make useful, personal, locally relevant information and tools available to the user. I understand the touch screen is a big part of its success, but that has little bearing on the global phone market (even though I’m sure we’ll all go touch eventually).
The iPhone itself is not that great as a phone, by all accounts. Clearly it has Apple'ness, in that its beautiful and so easy to use. So the iPhone has had no impact on my life to date (it’s had long enough), but will do so through an app store (not Apple’s) and a touch screen (not Apple’s).

So now the iXXXX is about to come. I don't care about the product one iota. There will be interesting publishing consequences (more for the magazine than book industry, I believe) and I am sure the product will look and feel good. Do I want it? Do I need it? Will it change the world? No. Will there be 100,000,000 articles in just one newspaper about it, of course there will be.

Apple products are great, but expensive. Most of the world does not use them (even within affluent media circles it's not as frequent as the Marlboro Light's brigade). People think that Apple has a huge proportion of the phone market because of how it is reported (it doesn't). The media is played for fools by Apple, taking every rumour which is slowly leaked out of Apple HQ and using it to run another full page. I'm actually amazed that their editors have not turned round and said: "excuse me, but have you not got something else to write about today".

The only thing I find interesting about the whole affair is this. If you have a quality product, then you are in charge. It is not that Apple's marketing is great (it's actually very 'inactive'), it's just that the products, their look and feel, are great. With that the interest and hype will follow.

This is a great lesson for all companies looking to promote their latest products. Spend less time worrying about the wizz bang marketing than making sure the product itself is what people want (which is really just another way of saying you can’t polish a turd).


Update 1
I did a google trends search on Apple yesterday and noticed that news coverage peaks after search results peak. Could that possibly mean that the media are just responding to interest or that the media response reduces the need for search (hence the peaks being out of sequence). Interestingly also, is that Apple search is relatively stable over the last year (whilst news increases, but still not massively).

http://www.google.com/trends?q=apple&ctab=0&geo=all&date=ytd&sort=0

Update 2
I will bow to Apple if it launches a sensible non-proprietary micro-payments system. Whilst NYT, Murdoch and others are heading behind a pay-wall, making easy small payments for published material (that is sent to your tablet) is crucial in taking the publishing industry into the digital world.

Which online sites are important?

I've just had to endure the most painful conversation and one that I very much doubt will be the last. Below is as close to verbatim as I remember:

Person: "What online sites should we also cover?"
Me: "BBC, FT, Times, there are loads out there"
Person: "No, I mean, which specific ones that are online should we target?"
Me: "they are online. What are you trying to achieve?"
Person: "But there must be some online sites that we should target?"
Me: "Twitter, google, facebook...."
Person: "no, business ones"
Me: "listen, what exactly are you trying to achieve. These are all online."
Person: "I guess I should probably give you a proper brief"

Why do people who consume media, and mostly online I would guess, seem to think these hugely influential 'online titles' exist in the same was as the FT or Times and can just be added to the target media list. When I ask questions back, they don't like the answer and go away.

It's such old school thinking - number of clips. We got 5 magazines and one online hit. What does that mean, where is the conversation about people you want to reach - buyers, influencers etc. Then the consequential: "how do we reach them".

I was in a meeting the other day and had to make the point that it was perfectly possible that all the business goals could be achieved without PR. After all, media is merely a conduit, a medium. Traditionally it was fundamentally important to work with the media to 'speak to your audiences'. It is perfectly feasible that this can be done in direct, 2-way conversations with them.

We are going through a phase change and it will be painful at times, but giving out honest advice to clients and taking advantage of what digital can bring should be a must for all agencies at the moment.

Back to that lovely conversation. I bet I never get the 'proper brief' or be asked again.

Ham, no, not the sandwich stuff, but Jamón

Last night, I was lucky enough to be taken to Brindisa in Borough market, to a Jamon carving course. I should add the caveat that I am a humungous fan of Jamon, Pata Negra, Joselito - all Spanish cured hams in short.

What a fun night it was, starting with the history of hams, we had a plateful of 4 different hams in ascending order of age/type and tasted each one in turn, with an explanation of what we were eating and why each one tasted differently. The flavour is influenced by 3 things, Breed, feed and age (could prob add environment, at Joselito would say so). So we started with the 'entry level' ham, leading up to the most complex, purest breed, longest aged, the Joselito, the grand daddy of hams. In short, fed on acrorns - best. Iberico breed - best. Then the longer the cure the better (up to 4 years).

Now for those of you who know and love Parma ham or prosciutto, this is in a completely separate world (although when you pay up to nearly £20 for 100 grams, it should be). The flavours are so complex: sweet and nutty. The textures are wonderful. Because the meat is of such a high quality, it can be hand carved slightly thicker than the Italian equivalent, which is always sold paper thin. We were served Sherry throughout (so only have 1 drink before you go), although I normally eat Jamon with a glass or 2 of Rioja, a Cune or Campo Vieja crianza 2005 is perfect. Interestingly we were assured that the drink to really have it with is Dom Perignon! I'm not sure I can afford to develop an addiction for Jamon and Dom Perignon, so will stick to the Rioja for now.

The best part was a chance at carving. It is very frustrating when spending that much money at other outlets, like Whole Foods, only to get home to find it had been carved too thick. So to get a chance to have a go and understand what you are doing and why, was just fantastic. Everyone had a good go at it, I'm sure it just goes to show that if you really love something, you'll give it proper attention and respect it.

My adorable girlfriend took me and she would claim that she was a better carver than me, well I think that is up for debate. Either way, we'd be confident to carve our own leg. Now we just need to start saving the £400 or so we'll need for the Extremadura one which was just too good for words.

Thank you my darling, thank you for a genius Christmas present, it was great to get close to and learn about something i've been loving ever more each year.

Thanks also to Zac Fingal-Rock Innes, the master carver at Brindisa. He has clearly got the passion and will help to ensure that this fantastic product is available in the UK. I look forward to learning more, tasting more (and presumably making it myself, or is that sacrilege?)

The only negative, I think, is that I've finally resolved my 'death row' dilemna of what would your last meal be. A glass of rioja with the finest Jamon, perfectly sliced cannont be beaten. I could do it every day and the joy doesn't diminish.