one need only watch television for an hour or so to see commercials for other smart phones, tablets, and computers to tell the difference betwen apple and everyone else.

a 30 second commercial of people running on rooftops, connecting cables together, and there’s a full 3 second that you actually see the product. yeah, i’m talkin about you, thunderbolt. compare that with apple’s iphone 4 commercial where 26 seconds is used to show the product and what it does.

or another 30 second spot showing a guy, taking some kind of device, sitting in an imaginary pod, and playing a game. because i’m sure that’s exactly what will happen when you get a motorola xoom. compare that with apple’s original ipad commercial which again highlights all of the various functions of the device and how it can be used for fun, or learning, and everything in between.

so what is the difference? for apple — even in their marketing — it’s all about the user. what is the user experience like? what is it like to own an iphone? what is it like to have an ipad? look at everything you can do. look at how differently you can see the world.

say what you want about apple’s business practices, but one thing is certain: apple focuses on user experience perhaps more than anyone else. it defines their company.

what if everyone focused more on user experience and less on ‘special effects’?