“I write frequently about the differing marketing approaches of Apple and Microsoft. But today, an article titled Time Rich or Time Poor? by Jeremy Liew over at Lightspeed Venture Partners really crystallized that difference for me,” Carl Howe writes for Blackfriars’ Marketing. “He defines the terms as follows:”
Broadly speaking, there are two types of internet users, Time Rich (more time than money) and Time Poor (more money than time). I’d speculate that many of the readers of this blog fall into the Time Poor category, but the vast majority of internet users fall into the Time Rich category. If you’re starting a new internet company, its important to know who your audience is, and to make sure that you don’t let your own experience and that of other Time Poor people guide you wrong.
Howe writes, “Jeremy then goes on to note that a lot of search engines, ecommerce, and comparison shopping engines are designed for Time Poor users, while social networks, social discovery, and video websites are designed for Time Rich users. And as he notes in the definition, there is a demographic gulf between the two groups as well: Time Poor typically implies money rich, while Time Rich implies money poor.”
Howe writes, “The ‘aha’ moment I had today was that Apple’s marketing is designed for Time Poor buyers, while Microsoft’s is designed for Time Rich buyers.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “TheLagosChap” for the heads up.]
Great analogy and from my perspective, quite accurate.
jeezus – I feel dumber for having read that.
Where’s the news in this? Everybody has known for decades that Apple isn’t for the commodity buyers, that’s Dell’s market. What rock has this guy been sleeping under?
I think I’m now more Time Poor for having read that….
You know, it’s funny, but I once dated a lhasa apso who wouldn’t have fallen into either of those categories.
“Time Rich”. “Time Poor”. Whatever. No, she was definitely in de “Money Whore” demographic. Yeh-heh-hehessssss. Or maybe it was “Bitch Time”, now that I think about it.
Well, what does it matter? She was hit by a Buick so . . . it all comes ’round in de end, right?
Which come to think of it was actually her working slogan . . .
I don’t understand how he can say that Time-Rich people, those having lots of time, would be the target of Microsoft. We all know that if you have the time to invest in researching and making educated decisions, you will probably not choose Microsoft.
Damn, I wish I was Money Rich!
Howe writes, “The ‘aha’ moment I had today was that Apple’s marketing is designed for Time Poor buyers, while Microsoft’s is designed for Time Rich buyers.”
But I’ve been saying for some time now that it’s not just Microsoft marketing that’s designed for time-rich users. The whole Windows/PC design and operating philosophy is based on time-rich users. It’s been that way since 1982, and it’s NEVER CHANGED!!! The design philosophy is the more features, and the complicated the better, since people enjoy “fiddling” with their computers. This is a holdover from the days when we DID enjoy fiddling, because the computer itself WAS the experience. That’s changed. Apple knows it. Microsoft doesn’t.
Not too long ago there was a public statistics about most visited websites. Apple was in top 5. But interesting: in Apple site peoples spend near 1 hour, on other sites spend cc 10 min. So Time Poor or Time Rich people were on Apple?
Triumph- I almost spit up on my keyboard.
These people have no brains. Its the majority of the grunts who HAVE to work with Windblows because they don’t have a choice.
@ Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
Glad to see you back !
Your wit has never failed to cause me endless minutes wiping my keyboard off !!
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dang i am Time Poor AND Money Poor. I think i screwed up somewhere!
that’s dumb.
You can make the most assinine statements in the world if you just simplify reality enough. Macs are not aimed at “the rich” — they are aimed at people who value their time. Folks who don’t have spare time (which is most of us since we’re all so darn busy) are “time poor” but not necessarily “money rich”. He’s half-right, which is batting better than average for another silly analyst who is “time rich” and “money rich” but “common-sense poor”.
What Liew* really ought to have said:
Broadly speaking, there are two types of internet writers, Time Rich (more time than brains*) and Time Poor (more brains than time).
Unbelievably stupid. Get a real job. Mac marketing is aimed at people who might buy a computer. Period. This elitism B.S. ticks me off.
HUH?? This guy is definitely TIME RICH — he has way too much time on his hands to be coming up with cockamamie theories like this that make absolutely no sense whatsoever. I give him the BIG L for LOSER!
There are two kinds of people in the world:
Those who classify everything into two catagories and those who don’t.
Time-Misers choose Mac…
… because there’s work to be done.
Personally, I’m a Time for iLife and Time for Leopard kind of
guy. All these articles are getting boring waiting for something
substantial to be reported. January was very disappointing, other than the iPhone. Apple TV, I will buy in a couple of years.
I want a “normalize” function in Garageband and 24 bit recording. I want iPhoto to make basic selections to edit. I want more themes in iMovie and iDVD. I want iWeb to be at least a little competition to Dreamweaver and Golive. I want to spend my money on yet unheard of Leopard features that make me drool. It has been toward two years now since Tiger came around, and from Apple, I naturally expect alot and at a reasonable amount of time. I also am waiting and hoping for iWork to be part of the Leopard install to insure a M$ free environment.
I agree with the writer that people who use Microsoft products have to have a lot of free time, but I don’t think there is an inverse relationship between free time and money. Very rich people have nothing but free time, while very poor people have no time at all after working two jobs just to make ends meet.
Some people like Apple because they don’t have lot of time, others like Apple because they have a lot of time but they don’t want to waste it.
Some people buy Windows machines because they barely understand what they are buying, Windows machines are easy to come by, and following the crowd is usually a safe bet–because if the crowd is wrong at least you have companions in your misery.
I’m with Georgy Porgy, hoping that Apple comes out with some great new advancements in UI and workflow in Leopard that help us all get more done in the same amount of time every day.
For example, having the simple iCal pop-up alert messages on my Mac and on my iPod that remind me of important meetings I have coming up at work today is a time-saver: I don’t have to launch iCal just to remember an important meeting, nor in fact to I have to be in front of my Mac. This is the kind of thing that adds great value to our platform of choice IMHO.
@ Zeke – thanks for that great insight.
@ dogfriend – that was really funny! I’ve got to remember that one!
bah, i had the feeling that macs were used mostly by time rich people.
if that distinction is important anyway !
what about curious and creative vs conservative ?
On this very chilly March afternoon. There’s nothing like the warmth from a raging fire. Eh, Martin?