Apple’s shift from creators to consumers.
I read with interest Owen William’s article on the lack of a clear target audience for the new MacBook Pro.
Apple, historically has built and marketed for creators. Those who use their computers to create. Those who design, develop, produce and build. Those as Steve Jobs had famously said:
‘ Now they’re the people who would have been poets had they lived in the ’60s. And they’re looking at computers as their medium of expression rather than language, — Steve Jobs Newsweek, fall 1984.
In a time when computers were clunky and GUI was left wanting, those who would have been artists, poets, musicians, were naturally drawn to Apple’s simplistic but engaging user interface and its high performance. So as Williams’s pointed out, with two ports less and no improvements to RAM or the device’s processor, who on earth is this Mac for?
One of the key features of the new touch bar, is in fact, Touch ID. This allows a user, as shown in the Jonny Ive video, to purchase directly from the product page. Thereby eliminating basket and checkout, including an average of 15 form inputs and around 7 clicks.
This ultimately brings the online shopping experience one step closer to real life purchasing.
In a store, the effort is getting there, choosing the purchase, and then, standing in line. However, payment is effortless, with just one swipe of a card the purchase is done.
One of the main barriers eCommerce managers face is checkout, with the abandon rate so high, purchase so close and profit margins so high. Any opportunity for optimization is put on the table.
According to the Baymard Institute, 68.81% of users abandon their shopping cart. Main reasons for abandon are lengthy checkout process, account creation, and payment issues.
However, Touch ID eliminates all of these.
Thus, making Touch ID the ultimate optimization tool for increasing online conversions.
Now, of course, this is a great convenience for online shoppers, but the real win lies in the billion dollar gains for the numerous eCommerce companies or online presence of hundreds of retail brands. Ultimately bringing the same function of Amazon’s patent, ‘1 click’ technology to everyone.
The MacBook Pro may not be targeted at designers or developers, but it is definitely designed for the consumer.
