ideas worth stealingCover bands
There’s a difference between the Rolling Stones and a Rolling Stones cover band, and we all know what it is.
When you copy a great product instead of create one of your own, you’ve already lost a big chunk of what makes a great user experience.
Namely, the anticipation, surprise, and joy a person has when experiencing a great product for the first time.
Apple has a cult-like following because they put out great stuff reliably, not simply in response to someone else’s innovation. And they solve problems in really compelling ways, not just by stealing ideas from different places and hodge-podging them together. Because of this, Apple’s new releases are welcomed with much anticipation, excitement, blog posts, rumors, and everything else most companies wish they could achieve. All of this is part of the Apple experience.
Sony, Motorola, and others can’t create a true iPhone challenger without first doing what Apple did - not literally, but in spirit. You have to take a fresh look at the problems with cell phone interfaces, and come up with something that solves them in an amazing way. Then you have to follow through, 100%, to make every last detail of your phone superior to all the others. You can’t just design something that looks and works similarly to the iPhone and expect it to do well. The market doesn’t like copycats - it likes the real thing.
To earn the same response and respect that innovators earn, you have to create something just as great or better that solves the problem in a completely different way. You have to earn your own user experience points by doing something new and brilliant, that has a real chance of capturing the attention of the market.
Throw out the copycat notebook. Solve problems in your own way instead of rehashing someone else’s great work.
Posted by Robert on November 19th, 2007
one comment
Wasn’t it Picasso who said that good artists copy, great artists steal?
If we are solving problems in a different way than what people are used to, then that means one more thing they have to learn. Imagine if you changed the ‘printout’ icon on your application, to say a spade (for an example).
Sometimes it is best to copy. For multitouch UI, what could be better for magnifying the screen than a pinch gesture? How many different ways can you flick your finger up a list? These things are almost mundane, but they perfectly fit the interaction.
I’m not saying don’t innovate - it’s just these innovations that have to be picked up and used, and to stand the test of time. Look at the playback controls on any media device. They are all the same for a reason.
When a new idea (like the iPhone) comes to market, there are things people learn there which would make sense to be in other products. And no-one got anywhere without even being inspired by the great products.