iPad, Mobile Analytics, and Web Analytics 3.0
If you follow me on Twitter (@erictpeterson) you are likely already annoyingly aware that I rushed right out last week and bought Apple’s new iPad. I got the device for a few reasons but fundamentally it was because I’m a technology geek–always have been really–and despite knowing the iPad will only get better over time I was happy to shell out $500 to see what the future of computing and all media would look like.
Yeah, I see the iPad as the future of computing and all media. Bold, sure, but hear me out … and I promise I’ll make this relevant to web analytics, eventually.
I believe that all that the “average user” of any technology really wants is a simple solution to whatever problem they may have at the time. At a high level people look towards their operating system to simplify access to the multitude of applications and documents they use; at a lower level we want our applications to simplify whatever process we’re undertaking.
Proof points for my belief are everywhere, ranging from the adoption of speed dial on phones (simplifies calling your friends and family), power seats in cars (simplifies getting comfortable when you switch drivers), and even into web analytics where a substantial growth driver behind Google Analytics has been the profound simplicity with which important tasks such as custom report creation and segmentation are accomplished.
The iPad, and to some extent the iPhone and it’s clones, absolutely crushes simplicity in a way that is simultaneously brilliant and powerful. Want to read a book? Touch the iBooks application, touch the book you want, and start reading. Want to send an email? Touch the Mail app, touch the new icon, and start writing. Want to play a game or send an SMS or Tweet something? It all works exactly the same way … tap, swipe, smile.
Sure, the iPad is a little heavier than is optimal, and yeah it shows fingerprints and costs a lot of money and isn’t open source and … blah, blah, blah, blah. The complainers are gonna complain no matter what–you’re Apple or your not in this world I guess. But the complainers I think fail to grasp the opportunity the iPad creates:
- The iPad takes mobile computing to an entirely new level. With iPad you have a 1.5 lb device that will let you read, write, watch, and generally stay connected from just about anywhere for up to 10 hours between charging. What computer or phone does that? None that I know of, and so iPad gives us a simple answer to “I need to work but I’m away from the office.”
- The iPad enforces usability of applications, and this is a very good thing. The complainers complain that Apple asserts too much control over app design via their App Store acceptance processes. Apparently these folks haven’t used enough crappy software in their lifetimes and are hungry for more. Apple’s model and their application design toolkit gives us a simple answer to “I wish this software was easier to use.”
- The iPad changes media consumption forever. Despite the Flash-issue, one I suspect will become a non-issue very quickly thanks to the adoption of HTML5, the iPad is the most amazing media consumption device ever created. It is a portable, high-definition TV, it is a near-complete movie library, it provides access to hundreds of thousands of books, and it allows you to surf the Internet in a way that can only be described as “delightful”. By definition the iPad gives us a simple answer to “I wish I had a way to keep my books, my movies, my newspapers, my TV shows, … all of my media, in a single place that could be accessed anytime from anywhere.”
- The iPad changes education forever. I’m making a bet that by the time my first grade daughter hits middle school a significant number of children will carry iPads to school, not expensive, heavy, and immediately out-dated textbooks. Think about this for a second: interactive textbooks that can be updated as easily as a web site, think about young people’s media consumption model today, and think for just a second about why Apple would be motivated to provide “significant educational discounts” for the device. The iPad in schools gives us a simple answer to “How can we provide a common platform for learning that any student or teacher can immediately master and reflects our rapidly changing world?”
Think that last piece isn’t important? Have a look at the image at the right, sent to me by @VABeachKevin (thanks man!) where he has already translated all three of my books into the ePub format and placed them on his iBooks bookshelf! This collection gives any web analyst with the iPad instant access to hundreds of pages of web analytics insight, anywhere, anytime. How cool is that?
(And heck, these aren’t even Jim, Avinash, or Bryan’s books … I bet Kevin’s converting those as we speak!)
I suspect you cannot appreciate this until you have one in your hands but the iPad has or soon will remove the necessity to purchase printed books, newspapers, and magazines. More importantly it gives the holder the ability to work efficiently from nearly any location around the world–all you need is a Wifi connection today and later this month that will be augmented with a 3G option.
Yeah, I’m an Apple fanboy, and yeah, I’m lucky to be able to drop $500 on technology without giving it much thought, but wait and see … I bet the adoption curve on the iPad will very much mirror the iPhone which is essentially ubiquitous these days. And just wait until someone develops a full-featured web analytics data viewer that takes advantage of all the pinching, swiping, dragging, and zoom UI capabilities of the iPad, that will simply be awesome! Imagine:
- Scrolling along through time by simply swiping left or right
- Zooming in on data by tapping or dragging across several dates
- Adding metrics and dimensions by dragging them onto the existing graph or table
- Changing from graph to table by simply rotating the device
Total “Minority Report” for web analytics … and I bet we see this within nine months time. In fact, if you’re a Apple developer looking for an awesome project … call me! I’d love to help guide a team developing next-generation web analytics interfaces on tablet computers.
Why This Matters to Web Analytics Professionals
I said I would try and make this relevant to web analytics practitioners so here I go. The iPad matters to measurement folks for exactly the reason I outlined back in September, 2007 when I first wrote about mobile’s impact on digital measurement. Web Analytics 3.0, a term I coined at the time and one I still use, is essentially the addition of a completely new dimension for analysis: user location.
In a digitally ubiquitous world–again one I described in 2007 that has more or less come to pass (although the prediction was kind of like predicting gridlock in Washington or rain in Oregon in April)–where a visitor is accessing information from becomes increasingly important and adds potentially significant context to any analysis we conduct. Location coupled with the device they’re using will likely have a profound impact on their likelihood to transact or otherwise use your site.
For example, a visitor accessing your site from home will likely have different needs and goals than one in their car, in an airport, in a coffeeshop, or in one of your competitors stores. In a world where an increasing number of visits are “out of home/out of office” visits conducted using mobile devices our collective approach towards analysis needs to change, perhaps dramatically.
To be fair, this is not something you need to solve and resolve today. While our ability to discern and differentiate mobile visits is getting better all the time, our overall analytical capabilities for mobile including the ability to tie mobile, fixed web, and offline visitors together is still unfortunately complicated. On top of that, while applications are increasingly able to pass over geographic information, most web browsers are not, and so our ability to gather large quantities of this data are still limited …
… at least for the time being.
For now I stand by what I said back in 2007–digital ubiquity and location-awareness changes everything. Back then the devices and platforms were just an idea; now we have the iPhone and it’s clones, the iPad is about to usher in a new era of mobile computing, Google and Apple are both behind mobile advertising, and the full scope of our analytical challenges are just beginning to emerge. If you’re struggling with how to measure your mobile investment and thinking about how that strategy needs to evolve please consider giving us a call.
What do you think? Do you have an iPad or do you refuse to purchase one? Why or why not? Have you already started to struggle measuring mobile devices or do you have it all worked out? Is this all as exciting to you as it is to me? As always I welcome your thoughts and comments.
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Eric,
I’m not sure whether I agree or not about the iPad being the future of computing- but all I can say is, I sure hope not.
Don’t get me wrong- I’m not an Apple hater. While I don’t plan to buy one, I do think they’re quite cool for what they do. I would agree with you, also, on your point “The iPad changes media consumption forever.” Because as I see it, that’s what it is- a “media consumption device.” But the future of computing? If so, we’re in big trouble.
I grew up with Apple machines. I created and scripted graphical adventure games in good old Hypercard on the Mac Plus when I was eight years old. Hypercard was an amazing tool that started with very simple functions, and let you gradually add quite a lot of complexity with scripting as you got deeper and deeper. I used ResEdit to poke around in the resource forks of programs, happily realizing that I could change icons and dialog screens, and understand the way things were put together. With the Mac LC and a MIDI keyboard I learned about sequencing music.
So I certainly hope that the “future of computing” is not merely “consuming media” plus being able to answer an email or dash of a quick tweet.
I think Cory Doctorow said it best in his post: “The way you improve your iPad isn’t to figure out how it works and making it better. The way you improve the iPad is to buy iApps. Buying an iPad for your kids isn’t a means of jump-starting the realization that the world is yours to take apart and reassemble; it’s a way of telling your offspring that even changing the batteries is something you have to leave to the professionals.”
Again, I’m not trying to be holier-than-thou here. I consume media just like most everyone else, and I recognize that the iPad is a very sleek and sexy way of doing so. As a gadget, I think it’s pure genius; but if it’s a bellwether for the future of computing, it’s a dark omen.
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Eric,
I’m in complete agreement with your assessment and would probably argue that the iPad (and the similar devices that will certainly follow) will even have a greater impact.
Take for example sharing — in well over a decade online I’ve really never had someone else make a purchase because of an email I received. Less than 24 hours into my iPad ownership I passed a message to a coworker to show creative. She bought the product. Could I have done this without an iPad? Sure, but the iPad makes it practical to share a screen, whether it’s an email, a report, or a video.
And while the iPad sells simplicity, it also improves experience. Well done marketing emails come in vibrant color and feel alive. Apps drive engagement on a big enough screen.
Let’s not forget the offline influence either. The iphone let us all surf the web during shopping in a functional way. Now we can do a full on comparison of products, read long reviews and so long as the connection is ok (starbucks + boingo) we aren’t limited to short results or tied to long boot up times.
As far as analytics I also think there will be more to understand as we evolve our segmentation approaches not just to user types but to application settings. The user in a coffee shop has a different purpose than the one in the mall or the one at home. How we separate and track them will be an interesting, but ultimately extremely useful challenge to truly understanding the influence of sites to sales.
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Eric, I totally agree that this changes the future computing, and has huge implications for the needs from reporting. Much like the iPhone, it is making computer/life a seamless environment. Different form factor, and better for some functions than the iPhone (e.g. media consumption which is a HUGE part of what happens on computers).
I’m so excited about the possibilities. Just think about what the iPhone has done for mobile commerce–amazing what we can do now. Amazing how retailers are being forced to integrate web/mobile/bricks and mortar. Really big mind shifts, organization shifts, etc.
I’m not a huge Apple bigot, but let’s face it, they produce cool products and lead the industry with innovations. Just as the iPhone has driven progress w/ other smart phones, so will the iPad with other tablet computers and readers.
Now, personally, not buying an iPad quite yet. Probably w/in the next 12 months, but I’m happy to wait for some kinks to get worked out and some of the really awesome, cool, fun apps to get built. I very seriously doubt there will be a competitive product in that timeframe that will pique my interest in the same way.
E
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Thanks for the post – there are some good comments on it!
I agree that the iPad will drive changes in both digital media consumption, and other areas, much like previous people commented on. It will have a significant effect on driving the design of a range of devices, and on the creation of new applications, services, and cause cultural changes. Imagine plays or movies where information is pushed out via iPad – engaging the audience in the experience in intriguing ways.
It will be interesting to see the effects of the iPad for information production and not just consumption. I think some classes of workers can be much more productive. We use laptops in planning meetings and when meeting with customers, but could use simpler interfaces for collaborative work, for example.
For firms, the issues are different and revolve around control and manageability. Is there a way for enterprises to push their own apps out to it without the iPad Store, for example? Can some features be locked down if they inhibit productivity? A lot of the challenges I hit are in monitoring internal sites and applications – something that web analytics doesn’t currently cover all too well. If we can get additional data from the devices, via add-ons to help track user behavior (even just in test groups), that would be great.
I think the reason some people complain is not that they “don’t get it”. I think some people are hesitant to give so much control to one company. That control is good as long as Apple sticks to its design heritage. However, generally speaking, centralization stifles innovation. Controlling who can sell apps will kill off a segment of developers who may not have great interfaces, but who can bring innovation to the marketplace. Has our current marketplace for software and online service been the result of a wide dissemination and openness of technologies? Can this continue if a firm limits and makes decisions on the direction technology and interfaces will take? People were angry with Microsoft years ago for controlling licensing and owning segments of the software market. But because Apple has sexy designs coupled with a great app delivery model, and simplicity in their products’ usability, people seem happier to let them become a monopoly.
Although this may seem critical, I also think the usable, simple, engaging interface will be a great benefit to people. Currently, people struggle way too much using technology – it needs to be as transparent to the task at hand as possible.
Measurement could be interesting. As long as raw usage data can continue to be passed on for analysis, and combined with new location information, then we can continue to learn more about customer behavior, aid predictive analysis, and answer more sophisticated analysis questions. This will result in improved products/service, and likely a slew of new ones, too.
Ubiquity has been discussed for well over a decade, and so really isn’t such a grand prediction. However, discovering a user’s location is becoming increasingly important for many (but not all) businesses.
In education, if your first grader will be using an iPad in five or six years, then I’d be surprised. The pace of innovation continues to pick up. My brother is technology director for a school district, and is testing out iPad’s, Kindles, Nooks, and other platforms. The biggest issue in the education market is how fast publishers can move to offer their works in digital formats, and how the new devices can be more than book readers. These devices need to aid the learning process, not just replace consumption formats.
As far as next generation interfaces, couldn’t some of the features be done now, with “Ajaxy” capabilities?
All in all, I would be happy to see the iPad stir greater innovation across our increasingly technology-driven culture. Simpler, better technology is always welcome.
JM
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Any thoughts if Section 3.3.9 of Apple’s developer agreement will affect what you are calling Web Analytics 3.0 (or 2.0 or even 1.0)?
[…] As a very loyal Apple customer and user of your products I want to thank you for all that you’ve done for computing in general. Your attention to detail and your vision have resulted in many of the most useful and usable products I own, too many to list honestly. While I was able to hold off for three days before purchasing the original iPhone (now on my third since I upgrade with every release) I pre-ordered my iPad and absolutely love it. […]
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Apple provides the Ipad, Computer, laptop etc. Mac Computer is the best computer in the world. Security of the MAC Computer is good compared to another. Price of Apple is very reasonable as Another brand the devices.