There's an 'app' for that: is this really the best message for iPhone?

The recent television spot for Apple's iPhone seems to assume everyone is a software engineer, and runs around talking about "apps."   Does the average potential iPhone prospect speak in terms of "app(lication)s" for their phone?   I'm not sure the phrase "there's an app for that" is the best one to appeal to the average prospect.  iPhone is long past the early adopter audience.  Now they're appealing to the masses.   Should the copywriter have assumed the masses think in terms of "apps"?   Isn't there a better term that wouldn't jump out as inappropriate in this TV campaign?

"If you want to read a restaurant review, there's an 'app' for that . . ."  says the latest iPhone television campaign.  hmmm.   I have a laptop, and I don't think in terms of  "applications"  for my laptop, I think in terms of programs.

I'm on Facebook.  I know I'm always being invited to fling food at someone, purchase an online pet (I have a 13-year-old niece also on Facebook . . .), race virtual cars, etc.  But I don't recall being invited to "download this app" on Facebook for any of those online activities.

So what does iPhone mean when they say, "there's an 'app' for that"?   So I began to wonder: why the term "app"?  

I began to conclude that they couldn't just say, "If you want to read a restaurant review, you can do that with your iPhone"  -- because maybe I have to pay for each "app"?  

And since I'm not the most tech-savvy person, I also began to think, "I wonder if I have to figure out how to load each and every one of these 'apps' onto my iPhone to get all of these features . . ."  (y'mean it doesn't just come "pre-loaded" with all of this stuff -- like laptops now come preloaded with most of the key software programs everyone uses?)   yikes.  Everyone over the age of (ahem) . . . over a certain age . . .  knows the last thing you want to do when you get a new phone is have to spend a lot of time setting everything up.  Loading phone numbers is enough grief for most non-geeks.

This is the problem with a misfit word -- the word becomes the message that's remembered.  The misfit word jumps out at the prospect, and, at least in this case, begins to cause a bunch of "I wonder if that means . . ." thoughts.   So what could Apple have said instead of "app"?

Instead of leaving the prospect with the message of "there's an 'app' for that", how about leaving me with a message that's actually a benefit that non-early adopters can relate to:

"If you want to read a restaurant review, iPhone makes it easy."

Now that would be a great phone.

 

 

 

 

 

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