Magical
I still remember the first time I held the iPhone in my hand. It was in August 2007 at the Apple store in New York – shortly after its launch. The experience was magical. Being able to tap the screen, seeing those colour icons, having a larger screen without a physical keypad – it was hard to believe that a mobile phone could be like this! For more than a decade, the mobile phone was defined by Nokia – small screen, text navigation, clunky keypad. Apple changed the game and powered its way to a multi-trillion dollar valuation through the years.
It was a similar experience when I first sat in a Tesla. I had gone to meet a friend in the Bay Area in a cab, and he asked me if I had ever been in a Tesla. I replied in the negative. He then took me for a ride. As we drove on 101, he activated the autonomous driving mode. For a few seconds, I was scared to see no hands on the steering wheel. The big screen as a dashboard, the smoothness (and silence) of the ride, the acceleration – it was yet another ‘magical’ experience in my life.
Google’s search when it launched did something very similar. Remember the “I’m feeling lucky” button? Type the query, click on it, and more often than not, we were magically transported to exactly the website we wanted to go to. It took search to a different level of efficiency. The ‘ten blue links’ became the standard starting point for any query we had.
The magic in the experience is the starting point. As you experience it, you wonder how it is being done. In most cases, it is multiple innovations which come together to create a wholesome outcome which is very different from what we are used to. Ask yourself: when was the last time you experienced a “wow” with a new product? [My answer: ChatGPT. Every answer is a “wow!]
In the digital world, there have been quite a few such ‘magical’ products in the past decade: Netflix, Spotify, Amazon Prime, Uber, Airbnb are some examples.
Netflix revolutionized the entertainment industry by offering a vast library of on-demand content, personalised to individual viewer preferences, disrupting traditional TV and movie distribution models, and making it a global phenomenon. I loved their idea of “binge” – sit and watch all the episodes dropped together, rather than having to do weekly appointment viewing.
Spotify transformed the music industry with its easy-to-use platform, vast music library, and personalised recommendation algorithms, allowing users to stream their favourite songs anytime, anywhere, effectively democratising access to music.
Amazon Prime redefined e-commerce with its two-day (or faster) shipping, comprehensive product range, and additional benefits like streaming media and e-books, creating a ‘one-stop-shop’ that caters to diverse consumer needs and habits. Doing away with ‘shipping charges’ for every order was a wow.
Uber reimagined transportation by connecting riders and drivers through an easy-to-use app, providing a convenient, cashless, and reliable ride-hailing service that challenged traditional taxi models and transformed urban mobility. When travelling in the US, it is such an efficiency and cost-saving tool for people like me who do not drive. A few taps and a car (at times a Tesla) is there to take us to our destination.
Airbnb disrupted the hospitality industry by allowing anyone with a spare room or property to become a host, offering travellers a more personal and diverse range of accommodation options, and creating a global community based on sharing and local experiences. I still remember the time I stayed in an Airbnb apartment in London on a family vacation– we had bedrooms, a kitchen and a living area all for ourselves, for a very reasonable price.
These companies have built or are on their way to dominating their categories. It all started with a product experience that was so different and dazzling from what we were used to. These products are all magical because they solve a problem in a way that is simple, elegant, and effective. They make our lives easier, more convenient, and more enjoyable. And they do so in a way that is so compelling that we are willing to pay for them, even when there are free or cheaper alternatives available.
