Desktop and Handheld as WATTage Metaphor
24th January 2011
The lede says it all.
As inflection points go, the Consumer Electronics Show that kicked off yesterday couldn’t be sending a clearer signal: The era of the personal computer is drawing to a close. For an industry gathering that once showcased each new generation of desktop and laptop, this year’s show is buzzing with every imaginable flavor of tablet, smart phone and mobile appliance. Welcome to the age of mobile computing.
I want to draw a sharp persuasion point. The “era of the PC” versus the “age of mobile computing” implies that everyone is doing the same cognitive activity, but through time have shifted from the desktop to the hand. Anyone who thinks like that is going to have major persuasion problems. It is more correct to label these as the Styles or Types or Modes or, in persuasion terms, Routes of Computing and not Ages or Eras because people do not bring the same cognitive demands to handheld computing that they do to desktop computing. It is the difference between Computing and Computering.
Handheld is a prime example of low WATT processing in a receiver, someone who wants Cues to guide the Internet experience. Compare that to somebody fully engaged in a desktop environment who is more likely operating with high WATT. Desktop computing compared to handheld computing is more cognitively demanding, more creative, more reflective, more thoughtful, more resourceful. Handheld computing is easy, fun, and popular, the connection comes to you because you don’t have to make the connection. It is WATT as Willingness and Ability to Tap, WATtap.
Of course! Of course! Of course, there are exceptions to this metaphor. Low WATT surfers ride desktops all the time and everyone sometimes goes High WATT on an iGizmo. Here’s your Gold Star for thinking of the obvious dissimilarities in this analysis. Now, go make money on your finding. In other words, prove your distinction with a difference.
By contrast, if you stay in the metaphor, I think you’ll more properly make your persuasion plays more often. Certainly, move flexibly – WATTage changes in an instant. But realize the device constraints and consumers desires with a handheld versus a desktop. Realize that these devices are part of a Persuasion Box you build to attract the Other Guy into the range of your tactics. Realize that these devices affect WATTage and WATtap with all people at all times – population-wide and time unlimited.
Realize the large persuasion difference between what the Other Guys can do with one hand and what They can do with two hands. Zen, baby. Zen.
