Category Archives: Ethnography

Would you like a tablet with those fries?

My local ASDA (Walmart UK) grocery store just put up a fairly substantial Nexus 7 POP display…at the front door, next to the place where people who didn’t travel by car tie up their pets and wait for taxis. For all I know there’s a second one at the door that leads to the parking lot.

Just to be clear, this is a grocery store. Sure, they have an aisle or two that sells toasters, light bulbs, cheap paperbacks and school supplies, but a good 80% of the store is food (…well ok, 50% food, 30% liquor).

There’s always been a small counter selling cheap-ish mobile phones and SIM cards, but it’s not exactly a feature of the store. I’ve seen far more people hovering in front of the fruit or shampoo aisle than i’ve ever see at the phone counter.

So maybe this is just a trial. Or a back-to-school promo. I’m not sure, but it reminds me of that cheeky Volkswagon Golf commercial that’s currently playing in the UK…

…a woman browsing a farmer’s market stops at a fruit stall and asks for four lovely apples.

“Anything else?” asks the salesman.

She pauses just a moment, peers down at her list, then asks if he still has any of those lovely Golfs.

The salesman looks around briefly (as if trying to recall just exactly where he might have put them) then he points at a Golf precariously balanced on the table next to a crate of oranges.

“£1500 off the deposit” he says “would you like just the one?”

Suggesting you might buy a car on impulse is certainly cheeky.

Suggesting you might do the same with a cute, well built, eco-system-rich sub-£200 tablet is however starting to feel plausible.

As prices continue to drop (and we’re pretty sure they will) it may well make sense to routinely (!) sell tablets next to fruit, toys and jeans…or simply give them away as accessories to something of higher value.

7 inch tablets and other oddities

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As rumours spread of a possible 7″ iPad and Google announces it’s Nexus 7, smaller tablets are already proving quite popular in Asia.

I first ran into widespread 7″ tablet use in Hong Kong back in 2010. Back then, it was the first generation Galaxy Tab. While not as common as the iPad, 7″ Tabs were easy to spot while wandering cafes and student hangouts of MongKok and Kowloon.

Two years later, a whole range of tablets (5″, 10″ and many sizes in between) are readily visible in central Bangkok. These include the 5.3″ Galaxy Note, the second generation 7″ Galaxy Tab (thinner and lighter), the 8.9″ Galaxy Tab, and my personal favourite—the perfectly sized (not too big…not too small) 7.7″ Galaxy tab.

Back in Europe however, it’s still pretty rare to see a tablet in the wild other than the iPad. There’s obviously no way to know why smaller tablets haven’t caught on here, but I suspect it’s due to a (somewhat random) confluence of events:

The iPad came out first and was heralded by Apple as “the perfect size”.
Mental models developed around the larger size and were exacerbated by flaky 7″ tablet releases by the likes of RIM and Motorola.
Both the original 7″ Tab and Amazon’s Kindle Fire didn’t quite sort out an optimal viewport width (vis-a-vis their respective number of device pixels and physical device size). The poor 7″ Tab ended up feeling like a Fisher Price inspired oversized phone, while the Fire suffered an opposite fate with reduced usability due to a bit-too-wide viewport.

Why smaller tablets took off in Asia may also be down to culture and historical accident. The Samsung brand is incredibly strong in Asia, so it’s not surprising the Tab family had immediate appeal. The use of smaller tablets in Asia is also paired with widespread use and availability of accessories. Some accessories are of course pure fashion, but others go a long way in enhancing and extending a device.

The most interesting I think are foldable cases (not unlike a classic iPad case but widely available in Asia for almost any make or model of device). Fitting one of these (inadvertently?) results in more comfortable and balanced use of many mid-sized devices. Compare the image below of a girl holding a 7″ tablet upright (in the way Amazon often portrays their much lighter 1st generation Kindle) with the far more comfortable use of a Galaxy Note when cradled in a foldable case.

This may not seem life-changing but makes a world of difference if your hand is smaller. A smaller tablet paired with a more ergonomic case is also quite conducive to stylus use (yet another accessory that caught on much faster in Asia and has remained popular due to the obvious benefits of handwriting recognition for certain character-sets).

The ability to easily accessorize, is similar in value to the ability to install an app. The device changes from a finite that thing you must adapt to, to a thing that you can mould to fit your lifestyle.

For some reason, 10″ tablets feel just that little bit less versatile. Like it or not, they require a certain planning and intent to carry. By comparison, smaller tablets weigh less, the display is often “big enough” (especially if you can do stuff like this), and the device fits into almost any bag, purse, or even pocket.

Smaller tablets are also infinitely more comfortable (and less dorky-looking) to use when taking photos!

I think we stand to see much higher use of smaller tablets/larger phones/connected purse-sized glowing rectangles of indeterminate viewport size in the future.

A post-pc chat over coffee

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“This thing is so, so, so useful” he said “Since I got this thing I never turn on the computer anymore.”

The man in question was 30-something and speaking to a much older gentleman who appeared skeptical, but genuinely interested (and went on to ask lots of questions). They were accompanied by a small child who spent most of the conversation transfixed by a game on the iPhone.

“I just use this for everything now…” the younger man continued.

“You see it’s always on, always there. It’s always next to me, or in my pocket. I don’t need to fuss with it or wait for it to turn on. It just works…so it’s kinda completely replaced my PC.”

“So much so…” he said with a chuckle, “…that the last time I turned the computer on, I forget for what…the antivirus was so out of date I had to do this great big update!”

[Eavesdropping session made possible by the iPad on my lap...these things are indeed so incredibly useful.]