Decidedly NOT Apple-sauce

The other day I hooked up with my friend Amy for lunch at Neiman-Marcus and a foray to the Apple store in Walnut Creek.

The lunch was because we needed to catch up and we’ve decided that N-M’s chicken salad sandwich is great, and the store in Walnut Creek has much better food (and marginally less attitude) than the one in Palo Alto.

The Apple store was because I’m interviewing with a company that has a cloud-based “productivity tool” application for mobile devices, but it only supports iOS and some Samsung Android devices. I don’t own Apple products because their we-are-the-great-design-and-supply-god business model gets up my nose, and it seems to me like every time one of my iPhone/Macbook-using friends has a problem they end up having to schlep into an Apple store to get it fixed.

Oh—and neither my tablet nor Android smartphone is Samsung, so I was kind of stuck when trying to explore this app’s user interface (UI).

The tool is basically server-based versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel that you can access (via the Internet) on your phone or tablet. They claim you can create and edit files in these three applications on your mobile device (freeing you from that pesky laptop), although frankly the functionality is limited, and I can’t see ever using a tablet or smartphone to deal with a spreadsheet or preso except in an update/tweak mode.

Certainly the kinds of files I deal with—product requirements, marketing plans, sales decks, revenue matrices, novels, screenplays, etc.—require the ability to drill deep, insert tables and graphics, which the freemium version of this app doesn’t have.

I also have some concerns about other things (like, who’s their target market); but they’re branching out into a social/collaboration platform, which is interesting. I tried it out in their browser version (only supporting Chrome and Safari, ho-hum) and found it a bit of a kludge.

However, I really wanted to try it out on an actual, you know, mobile device, since that’s really the whole point. I know three people (in this area) with iPads. One of them didn’t volunteer to let me use hers, I can’t reach the second and Amy’s is apparently an antique. When she tried downloading the app, she was prompted to install iOS 6 (which isn’t the latest version). And her iPhone has a cracked screen.

So the idea was to sidle up to the display iPads at the Apple store and see if we could get the app (which is free on the iTunes store) and I could try it out in its natural environment.

Well, of course that’s not possible—they’re all disabled from downloading anything off the Internet, for obvious reasons, but here’s the point of all this verbiage:

The store was a zoo, and it was hard to get the attention of any of their employees. But Amy roped one of them—I’ll call him BJ—over so we could ask. He explained that the display devices are all locked out from downloading, even though it’s from iTunes and even though it’s free, etc., etc., etc. I looked him in the eye and said, “Here’s the deal: I’m interviewing with his company, X, and their app only supports Samsung Android and iOS devices. I was really hoping to get a feel for the UX on a mobile device before I talk with them again…”

BJ barely hesitated before he took his personal iPhone out of his pocket, downloaded the app and handed it over to me. He then went off to deal with actual, you know, buying customers. I messed with it for close to 20 minutes (and the session confirmed my sense that you’re not going to use a smartphone for massive inputs; unless maybe someone’s holding a gun to your head), and then we looked round to return it to him.

Well, it seems he’d gone on break, and his break lasted for 15 minutes. A couple of employees offered to take the phone for him, but I said no, I wanted to return it to him personally. So we spent time with Amy trying to persuade me that I totally cannot live without an iPad. She’s an excellent salesperson.

Finally, BJ came out, looking a bit queasy; but massive relief ensued when I handed him back the phone with profuse thanks. (He’d forgotten about having given us his phone when he went on his break.)

I mean, seriously, can you imagine anyone—anyone—handing you their personal phone and leaving you with it so you can mess with an app they know nothing about? When I clearly wasn’t about to pull the trigger on a MacBook Air or iPhone? We were completely blown away, and I have to say that BJ has redeemed a considerable amount of esteem for his employer in my eyes. I’m just not seeing that happen at BestBuy, or the Microsoft store.

And between him and Amy, the 32Gb iPad mini, with case/keyboard and possibly cellular capability is really looking nice.

I’ll just check under my sofa cushions for $600.

But, BJ—really, what a mensch!