This is another of my posts targeted at small businesses and basically dispenses marketing rather than SEO tips, but I figure it’s a nice read for all you SEOs reading this as well.

I personally felt, when the MacBook Air appeared, that it was the most awesome thing ever. It was slim (I love slim), it was powerful, it had the newest high-tech, and it fit in a Manilla envelope (which is really an awesome way to present its thickness). Also, Steve Jobs has that charisma that allows him to present even the most banal of items in an incredible way. Which is why Apple will lose immensely when he steps away from the scene. But enough about that, point is when I bought my laptop earlier this year the Air had just been showcased and I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I loved the little Caps Lock LED on the key and I loved many things about it.

Slowly though, I got more and more disappointed with it. Firstly, it came to my country at a price of 2000 euros (over 3000$) and only the model without the SSD drive. Secondly, I found out about its many limitations and I chose to get an HP laptop, with a decent configuration and a decent cost-to-features ratio. Also, it’s cool too, and to my amazement had a Caps Lock LED.

However, time passed and CERF 2008 happened (which is a computer fair here) where Orange brought a bunch of MacBook Air models for you to play with, testing out the new 3G. And I was wholesomely unimpressed. Firstly, it didn’t really look like much, just a smaller laptop, the size wasn’t that shocking. Sure, it was slim, but… not impressively slim. Secondly, the oh so awesome Caps Lock LED was a small thingy which wasn’t even visible in daylight. Mine is a bigger one and highly visible in direct sunlight but as I have noticed myself, the whole idea of the LED there is insanely stupid (although it’s still cool). That is because when you’re typing your hands tend to move over the caps key blocking your line of sight to the key thus the LED itself. HP chose to put it to the side of the key where it is visible while keeping your hands on the keys, but still becomes invisible when you start moving the hands on the keys. Which is why a simple indicator above the keyword is way better.

Also, the whole gestures thing… Not the most useful thing… I mean it’s cool to be able to rotate an image quickly, but you can do that with one click. And when you try for example to pinch the image and you fingers slide and you end up rotating the image instead, that’s annoying. But otherwise it’s all so pointless. The scroll gesture is substituted on most new laptops with the scrollpad next to the touchpad, and that only needs one finger, and the pinch thing is pretty hard to do, my friend had to try a few times before getting it right and I only could do it with the thumb and a finger.

It’s so like Apple to promise a lot and then, when you get to look at the actual product, you start to see the flaws, and you start to notice that most features are in other products out there and they’re actually better thought out and with more value than the Mac. It’s so like Apple to overcharge by hyping their products and then acting like it’s the coolest thing out there.

As Seth Godin said, you must promise a lot, and then overdeliver. This wasn’t it with the Air and it’s not with most Apple products.

Try not to disappoint your customers and think of how hyping will affect you: it’ll bring you instant sales but will hurt you in the long run. There’s bound to be an application here for SEO but unfortunately I have no time to go into more detail.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the feed or who knows what you’ll miss out on. You can also subscribe by email.