Given that Apple relies on ease of use and usability to differentiate its products, we wouldn’t put too much stock into the following rumor. CultofMac writes, citing a reader who supposedly has a connection inside Apple, that the upcoming Apple tablet will necessitate a steep learning curve for users.
According to reader Tom: “I just heard [to] be ready for a steep learning curve regarding the “new” Apple product about to be released [and its] interface. This person is an employee of Apple and had just had a meeting regarding some of the new things coming. He/She would not go into details, but did say that he/she hoped we liked learning.”
While we’d ordinarily call BS on this, it’s hard to say what the hell is going on given how little we know about what Apple has up its sleeve. For all we know, the tablet will require a steep learning curve if only because Steve Jobs and co. may very well think that whatever new paradigm shift on usability they’ve implemented is vastly superior to what users are currently accustomed to.
Not too long ago, the New York Times quoted a former Apple employee who stated that users will be very surprised as to how they interact with the device. Hmm…
January 6th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
If you graph time on the x-axis and knowledge on the y-axis, then a “steep” learning curve is a good thing — little time passes before you learn a lot. A “shallow” learning curve is undesirable — a lot of time passes, but knowledge does not increase.
Probably it’s better to say long or short learning curves.
January 8th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Take a look at Sixth Sense/MIT Media Lab UI UX at TED.com.
To say ‘Revolutionary’ is putting it mildly.
Chandra C