The psychology behind the release of the Ipad

The official market release of the iPad in 2010 was a brilliant masterclass in consumer psychology as Apple cleverly manipulated the public opinion regarding the iPad using psychological strategies making the iPad a revolutionary product in technology.

Firstly Steve Jobs used a psychological trick called price anchoring in order to make the iPad seem more pocket friendly while also maintaining its reputation as a quality product. During the presentation that occurred when the iPad was about to release Steve Jobs started by saying that all the tech industry experts say that the iPad should be priced at no less than $999 and he put that number on a blank screen and let it stay there during the entire presentation this number was left on the screen, This is likely to have made the audience think that the base price will be $999 however during the end of the presentation Steve Jobs actually reveals that they are going to price the iPad at a price of just $499. Since the audience already had a baseline price of $999 the fact that the iPad was priced at half the expected made it seem like an excellent deal persuading the audience to buy the iPad.

When rumors started spreading about the iPad many people online started spreading things about the iPad saying that it was not as portable and convenient to use as a phone while also not being as powerful as a computer. It was even deemed as “An iPone on steroids”. However Apple manipulated public opinion by using three strategies as they redefined, compared and provided data about the iPad.

The first thing they did was differentiate the iPad showing that it was not a smaller computer or a bigger iPhone. They defined it as a completely new and innovative type of product in the market giving it a third category. They did this by showing that it was more powerful than an iPhone while also being more portable and cost-effective than a Computer.

The second strategy was making the iPad seem as the best comparative choice. At that time Netbooks which were cheap and small laptops were very popular however they were not very powerful or good. So Apple showed a comparison between Netbooks and iPads which showed that the iPad was more cost-effective and of a higher quality for roughly only $50 to $100 more than netbooks. Looking at this comparison most people instantly switched to the iPad this demonstrated system 1 thinking which is when people make choices based on their emotions not taking time to make accurate comparisons.

The last strategy Apple used was social proof. This is when there is evidence showing that people are buying this product. They did this by releasing a statement saying that 300,000 units of the iPad were sold on the very first day. This also plays into the bandwagon effect which is when people want to do something because everyone else is doing it.

Apple successfully turned an initially doubted gadget into a massive global phenomenon simply by understanding how the human brain evaluates value and makes decisions having over 15 million 1st generation iPad sold and setting the framework for this new technology with Apple recently releasing the iPads 11th generation.

I believe that adding a physical stylus to the first iPad would have instantly turned it from a casual media viewer into a serious tool for work. This change would have silenced early critics who called the device useless for professionals, speeding up workplace adoption and completely changing how people use touchscreen technology.