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This was an answer by Jong-Moon Kim to a question on Quora:
“If Steve Jobs was handed a pen and asked “Sell me this pen”, how would he go about it?“
Jong-Moon Kim writes about the intersection of psychology, technology and artistry. He graduated from MIT in 2010 with a B.S. and M.S. in computer science. He was the winner of the MIT Web Programming Competition in 2010. He is a Y Combinator alumni. He is currently working as a founder at an unannounced startup. You may visit his website or follow him on Twitter: @jiggityk
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The purpose behind any product is to bring positive emotions to its user. We can break down the main positive feelings a pen brings:
1. Ego: The power to create something new and unique that expresses a someone’s individuality. Something that says you’re not just another human being living out an average, forgettable life.
2. Storage: Creating a more stable storage of ideas that can endure. Something that makes you feel like your ideas have value and they should be treasured. By ensuring you don’t forget, it reinforces the feeling that you are valuable.
3. Ergonomics: How it feels in your hand. It should feel great.
4. Vanity: Letting other people see you’re a person of quality using a quality pen.
With these heuristics, we can create a new product that satisfies each of these emotional needs and communicates it in a very direct way. The time to gratification for each of these emotional payoffs should be nearly instantaneous.
Without further ado, let’s join Steve.
Apple Special Event – Town Hall, 10 AM August 20, 2014 – Cupertino, California
(Crowd noises and then applause as Steve appears on stage)
Steve Jobs: Hey, thanks for being here. (Loud applause) It’s great to see you today.
Steve Jobs: A few things first. We’ve sold our 500,000,000th iPhone last week. Half a billion iPhones. That’s a lot of iPhones. (Laughs)
As of last week, Apple is now the most valuable company in the world. (Cheers) We beat Google, Exxon-Mobil, and Wal-Mart.
When you think about it, these other companies have complicated ways of making money – selling advertisements, drilling oil, distributing goods.
We do something really simple: We create delightful products that do something phenomenal. It’s remarkable to think about the power of making things people want and just selling them. (Applause)
Boy, do we have something special for you today? It’s one of the best products we’ve made. With the iPod, we brought you the world of music in your pocket. With the iPhone, we brought you the world of the Internet in your pocket.
Today, we’ll take you into the world inside your head – in your pocket. So, how do we capture your thoughts?
Steve Jobs: Some of our friends think the answer is using a stylus on your phone. Yeeeeech, who wants that? (Laughter). We don’t use a stylus on our iPhones because it just feels plain wrong. Nobody wants to rub plastic against glass. I like the feeling of paper in my hands. Here at Apple, we think there’s something magical about putting pen to paper.
Today, Apple reinvents the pen. We’re calling it: iPen. Here’s what it looks like:
Steve Jobs: Isn’t that pretty? (Loud cheers). Just gorgeous. This is the best writing utensil that you’ve ever seen. It’s probably the prettiest thing you’ll have on your desk. (Laughter) It comes in just one color: white.
When you wrap your fingers around, it feels really satisfying. There’s just the right amount of heft that Jony and his team nailed that makes it feel remarkable.
It writes incredibly smoothly. Boy, have we patented it? Using Silkflow ink, your hand glides across like you’re on a cloud. When your hand slides so easily, you would notice, thoughts come just a little quicker.
It’s embedded with a micro gyroscope – the same one we use on our iPhones – that lets us do some really cool stuff.
As you write, the pen automatically saves your strokes on your iPhone. It’s incredible – now you have two copies: one in your notebook to carry around and one on your iPhone to send online.
Whenever I need to record something, I just pull out my pen and write naturally. It’s the most natural feeling in the world – writing on a piece of paper. Here’s what your stored notes look like on your iPhone:
Steve Jobs: I can flip through all my thoughts from yesterday, from last week, from last year. With my iCloud, I don’t have to worry about losing my ideas. A lot of creative people I know jot down ideas in their notebooks just to lose them or never look at them again. I think that’s a waste. Your original thoughts are what will change the world.
So what’s a computer and phone company doing making pens? Well, Apple is a personal mobile device company. iPen will change the way you work. It takes your creative mind and adds some extra storage to it.
I use this pen everyday. It brings a smile to my face each time I pull it out to jot down a note.
Steve Jobs: So how much does it cost? Here are some of our competitors in our space:
$299 – LiveScribe Sky Wifi – 8 gb
$150 – Equil Jot – 2 gb
The iPen is available for purchase starting today at $129. It is the best pen you’ve ever used. It links up directly to your iPhone, meaning you won’t have to worry about storage space.
$129 – iPen. 100 gb storage iCloud.
You can purchase the iPen at Apple stores and online for shipping immediately. (Applause)
Oh, and one more thing. (Loud cheering)
We’ve teamed up with a wonderful company called Moleskine to offer you a special white, Apple Edition notebook. They make the best notebooks in the world.
Steve Jobs: It’s the world’s best paper for the world’s best pen. A notebook is included with each iPen purchase.
Thank you. (Applause)
(Steve exits the stage and event is over)