To fully grasp how seriously Apple executives sweat the small stuff, consider this: For months, a packaging designer was holed up in this room performing the most mundane of tasks – opening boxes.
One after another, the designer created and tested an endless series of arrows, colors, and tapes for a tiny tab designed to show the consumer where to pull back the invisible, full-bleed sticker adhered to the top of the clear iPod box. Getting it just right was this particular designer’s obsession.
What’s more, it wasn’t just about one box. The tabs were placed so that when Apple’s factory packed multiple boxes for shipping to retail stores, there was a natural negative space between the boxes that protected and preserved the tab. – Adam Lashinsky, Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired – and Secretive – Company Really Works
Without further ado, we bring you a montage of unboxing videos for Google’s tiny screen Nexus 7 tablet:
MacDailyNews Take: You can’t compete when you’re not even in the same league.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Related articles:
NYT: Apple developing 7.85-inch iPad to be announced this year – July 15, 2012
Bloomberg: Apple preps smaller iPad, sources say – July 5, 2012
WSJ: Apple’s ‘iPad mini’ launch nears – July 5, 2012
Nexus 7: Google’s Napoleonic moment – July 9, 2012
A smaller iPad would spell doom for everyone else – July 6, 2012
AP reviews Google Nexus 7 tablet: It’s no iPad; better than Kindle Fire, but lacks storage space – July 2, 2012
Spec Shootout: Apple iPad vs. Google Nexus 7 vs. Amazon Kindle Fire vs. Microsoft Surface – June 28, 2012
Analyst: Google Nexus 7 threatens Microsoft Surface, Amazon Kindle Fire, not Apple’s iPad – June 28, 2012
Analyst: Amazon, not Apple, should worry about Google’s tiny screen Nexus 7 tablet – June 27, 2012
Google sells tiny screen tablet aimed at Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire – June 27, 2012
Google ‘Nexus 7′ tablet ships in July with Tegra 3, 7-inch display, $199 for 8GB, $249 for 16GB (with video) – June 27, 2012
Apple’s revolutionary iPad widens lead as tablet sales surge – June 15, 2012
Apple’s massive domination of tablet market unabated as Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire demand tumbles – June 5, 2012
Apple’s iPad remains dominant in Q112 while Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire fizzles – June 4, 2012
Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire shipments have dropped off a cliff – May 9, 2012
Amazon’s Kindle Fire shipments fizzle to anemic 4% market share – May 4, 2012
Opening the box is a complete commentary on setting up and working with Android…
Damn. The unboxing video is priceless!
Smile -> giggle -> laugh -> on the floor… (by the end)
I love the big ass “box cutter” part.
Reminds me of the knife I’d use…
Or go the professional Russian route and use a shotgun 😉
HA! You can’t return it without the box. GENIUS!
rotfl
+1
The box still might be easier to use than the operating system! Never had a problem with the box for my iPad.
I’m guessing that the unboxing (and isn’t that just plain stupid to film the unboxing of any fucking thing) of Apple’s tiny screen mini iPad will be considerably easier. I’m not sure who gives a damn but yeah it’ll probably be easier. Wow!
Got my nexus and it was very easy to open.
Did you use a screwdriver or a hammer?
Barbecue
Film at 11.
I’d always heard that Molly Wood was renowned for opening her box in a heartbeat. Guess I heard wrong about the little Apple trasher.
Well, she knows when it’s in there tight, huh?
If you watch TechnoBuffalo’s full unboxing, it is really not that hard.
Sneaky prices of tape, yes. But overall, it is not as difficult as this video portrays.
The thing that makes it funny is these are not Apple fans necessarily, many are Android bloggers or tech journalist that are mostly impartial so it’s not like they’d be hamming it up to make it look harder then it was.
A number of fairly smart people had problems with it. It’s more of a general commentary on Google’s attention to detail (or lack there of).
that was a damn good laugh
Man this must mean the Nexus 7 sucks and is getting horrible reviews…..
Wait
its the opposite
You’re right, it doesn’t mean that the nexus is bad but this is just part of google’s all inclusive package..
Umm… this video, had you watched it, was about the packing.
Yep, I’d have to agree with this one. You guys sometimes go too far with your commentary, but this is right on the money.
Still, it’s a guilty pleasure for some Mac pundits. Weird.
You know, everybody thinks that what Apple does is easy, like creating a great unboxing experience. But it’s more than that…
Leo Laporte on MacBreak Weekly was doing this big talk the other day about how “there are just some things that are like platonic ideals,” like the look of the iphone or the ipad. His point was that these ideas shouldn’t be owned by Apple — Apple shouldn’t get any credit for them because they are obvious and simple.
The thing is, those shapes LOOK simple. They LOOK obvious. But until someone has done the HARD WORK of really figuring them out, and REVEALING that obviousness, they are NOT obvious. Check out most pre-iphone smart phones, or most pre-ipad tablets. A mess.
Something seeming simple (like a great unboxing experience) or obvious (like the iphone, or ios) DOES NOT mean getting there was easy.
As Google is demonstrating.
Again.
amen!
double amen!!!
I am a designer. Creating anything stupid simple is exponentially harder than creating something complex.
Leo LaPorte has no freakin idea what he is talking about.
+∞
Design on paper is easy.
Implementing is easy.
Feeding back things you learn from implementation & actual use is hard.
Throwing out the lovely, but wrong, parts of your design is harder.
Saying no to the parts that just dot workwell enough is damned near impossible.
Under promising and over delivering a usable product is magic – technology/know-how so advanced it is indistinguishable from magic.
That reminds me of the story of how Bruneleschi won the commission to design the dome of the duomo (Florence). He challenged the clergymen to stand an egg in it’s vertical orientation. After trying in vain they exclaimed, “that’s impossible!” Bruneleschi then grabbed the egg, hit it against the table, crushing the bottom portion of the egg, thus creating a stand; the egg was standing upright. They exclaimed again, “I could’ve done that!”, to which Bruneleschi replied, “yes, but I had to show you.” *
As another commenter posted, laporte doesn’t really know what he is talking about, and is kind of a tool. He has been bitter ever since Steve Jobs stopped inviting him him to Apple events; not to mention he’s beholden to the anti apple nerd brigade.
*I may have taken a bit of artistic license with what is likely a completely mythological story.
Leo Laporte is a paid Google pundit. The revenue his business receives from Google, that includes Samsung, really needs to be investigated.
The only thing that comes close to that video, is the video of MonkeyBoy dancing on stage! 🙂
So now we know why the call it Google PLAY.
So the crap experience starts from the unboxing, wait till they start to use the fragmoid device, this unboxing malarky is nothing
Simplicity is at the heart of good physical design and user interfaces.
In most new product design, it is initially TOUGH. You have to imagine an untrained person handling and using your product without being instructed more than minimally and having them “get it”.
I’ve had people look at my designs and say “anyone could have designed that”, to which I answer, “But no one in the past 4 decades with this product DID IT…until I showed them how.
Maybe the Nexus video was overdramatized, but Apple’s boxes do open cleanly and their products inside need little instruction in order for someone to use them. That is great design.
You are completely correct. Ken Segall, author of “insanely simple: the obsession that drives apples success”, has been getting a few bad reviews on his AMAZING book (most of the reviews are deservingly great, though). The complaint? “These points are obvious” or “it’s common sense.”
That’s the POINT. The ideas are obvious – after they’ve been explained to you. That’s a sign that it’s a GREAT book, not a clunker.
“anyone could have designed that” (but didn’t) is actually a great compliment. Too bad more people dont know it.
I love android, but that sh*t was tooo funny!! lol good one!
Does it blend?
not popular enough
Google & Molly Wood… Who’s the worst? argh
Quote: “…natural negative space between the boxes…”
Uh, negative space? They’ve found a use for the Higgs Boson already? Did Gene Roddenberry know about this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_space
Wow guys, way to pay attention to the details.
Nothing like frustrating the hell out of what should be an excited customer before they even get to see their new device.
That was unbelievably frustrating to watch. Nice job, Google!
Is that the instructional video Google is using on their website to unpack the Nexus 7? 🙂
Were those loaner Google Nexus 7 slates? If so did the reviewers have to send them back and if they did, does anyone have any video of them trying to get the box lid back on?! I’m sure the sequel is just as hilarious!