I’ve had three significant “out-of-box experiences” recently, from three significant companies, and they’ve made me think a lot about the subject.

First up, the Apple MacBook Pro.

I read somewhere that first impressions are really important to Steve Jobs, and this feeling definitely shows when you unwrap a MacBook Pro and start setting it up. Here’s what it looks like. (This video is in another language, but you should get the point anyway.)

As you can see, the box is easy to open, and the styrofoam contains an imprint of the product’s name and is filled with little holes you can use to easily lift it out of the box. Once that’s out of the way, everything is laid out in an orderly fashion and each piece of hardware can be quickly spotted and identified. Thereare no giant fold-out posters explaining where to connect things, no impossible-to-open plastic bags, and no cryptic parts you have to read an owner’s manual to understand. It’s just clear and simple.

Once unboxed, I started up the machine and saw it had a fully-charged battery, so I could immediately start working. And as I went through the setup process for the operating system, I was welcomed in several languages via a slick animation, and then asked if I wanted to migrate files from another Mac. (I opted not to do this, because I knew I could do it later.) Then I was asked to create my account information.

Because the MacBook Pro has an iSight camera built right into the lid, I was given the opportunity to use it for the first time to create a photo for my new profile. This was my favorite moment. In doing this, Apple not only pointed out a very cool feature I may not have realized was there, but also pulled me completely into the setup process. I was no longer setting up a computer. I was playing with a new toy, and the toy was playing back. It quite literally made me part of the process.

Bravo, Apple. As you’ll see, this experience was wildly different than the two experiences I had after this one.

In Parts 2 and 3 of this mini-series, we’ll look at Windows Vista and Adobe CS3. In Part 4, we’ll talk about what makes a great out-of-box experience.

Posted by Robert on May 11th, 2007