Motivation Behind a Creation

Why Nikon and why Apple? The answer is because a non-engineer guy & a non gadget-freak –which means the majority of earth’s population– do not care about specifications. When they purchase a product, they only consider about function and satisfaction. Ask any person you find on the street the meaning of “megahertz” and “megapixel” and they might feel offended since they think you’re trying to act smart in front of ‘em. Nikon and Apple know this thing so when they create their product they have different motivation to the other company: they want their product to be user-friendly. Well, Panasonic have this spirit too, but this time I don’t have any Panasonic stuff with me hence I can write nothing about my personal experience about their product.

First is about Nikon.  I use the D3000 entry-level DSLR camera with me and haven’t been thinking about purchasing a new camera since I purchased it last year. When I bought it, just like when everyone buys a product, I thought about cost & performance. Within my limited budget, I was thinking to buy a DSLR to replace my old SONY’s prosumer camera. That time, according to my budget, I had several choices: Nikon D3000 or D5000 or Canon’s 450D or 500D. Actually after reading specs of those cameras (I did it because I am both an engineer and a gadget-half-freak), I decided to buy the Canon 500D. The time I went to the shop and have a try on each of those cameras. I changed my mind, I was disappointed with the Canon 500D. The plastic seemed not strong-enough, the grip feels not match with my hand, the menu is not easy to understand the first time I looked at it, and all the buttons can only be accessed by my right hand! This last factor actually had the strongest influence on my purchase. With a Nikon’s camera, I can change the camera settings and view my shots by using my two thumbs hence I can share the works and do it faster. With Canon’s my right thumb has to do the work hard and the left one does nothing. Beside that, Nikon has much easier menu plus they have even a special menu for new user. With the special menu, new user don’t have to give a shit about what aperture, shutter speed and even ISO setting. Give your grandma this camera and she will able to take great shots with it. Well, I will say no more, have a try yourself and you’ll understand what I’m saying.

Second, I will tell about Apple’s product which I own: iPhone 3GS. My friend often told me to replace with iPhone 4G. I always say no since I’ve already had everything I need in the 3GS. The GPS is so great, I can survive living in Tokyo and saved several times by this function; Camera & its apps are so great and more than enough for my daily snapshots; Notes, reminders, alarms and so many other functions I often use which makes me already forgotten that iPhone is actually a phone. They even have crazy app for a crazy ramen-lover like me. I just use the app everywhere I am and the app will tell me the location of nearby ramen restaurants. Every time I use my iPhone 3GS, I can feel that Apple had a deep thought and noble motivation when they create this stuff. I mentioned ‘noble’ since Apple must have always thought about user-friendly aspect when they designed it. Apple paid me nothing to write this but let’s just consider this as my grateful to them for inventing iPhone 3GS. Again, try it yourself and you’ll understand me.

No I am not writing about user-experience stuff or giving advertisement. I will do it if they give me their latest product as a reward though . I just want to say that from now let’s always ask our motivation behind our own creation. Creation can be many things, even a blog is a creation. If so far we’ve been thinking only about profits & popularity, from now let’s rethink about it. We’re lucky that we live in the time when we can watch many companies going up and down. We can see which one stands still after the hard crises. Pay attention that those who survives are those who are loved by their customers. Their customers love them after having experienced with their creations, some even became fanatic to their brand.  That symbiosis happens because from the very first point creator has the noble motivation. The motivation to make improvement on customer’s life experience.

And I don’t see why we won’t start thinking like that?