Lusture

It recent weeks there has been a lot of consumer attention and industry jostling over who has the sexiest hardware. Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft have all been fighting for our attention.

Superb webzines such as The Verge are full of gorgeous screenshots, videos and reviews of each device. When people talk about “the experience”, they talk about the body of the device, how much thinner it is, and how one is better value that the other – the iPad Mini vs the Nexus 7? Or the iPhone 5 vs the Nokia Lumia? Who cares?! They’re all gorgeous and vying for our attention. Many of us would be happy to land a date with any of those!

To focus on the hardware is easy for us because it’s something we can quite easily get our heads around. You can see it, touch it, and even smell it. It’s also a limited experience. You can see it in its entirety – either on the outside or by pulling it apart. There you go. Now buy me. I guess that’s human nature. To fixate on the physical.

But it could be a short-lived love affair – people will flock out to buy the shiny devices – to fondle, flash around and show their friends. We all know that the hardware will age quickly. What really matters lies beneath the glass surface and that’s where your human-to-device relationship will live or die.

Let’s call it the “personality, the brains and the brawn”. These are the operating systems… iOS6, Android Jelly Bean, Windows 8. We hate it when they get brain-fade. There has been a lot of press about the let-downs of iOS6, including the Apple Maps and issues connecting to Wifi – both resolvable issues – all they need is an education?

The hot new personality on the block is Windows. It has not only had a makeover, but psychotherapy and some major organ transplants as well. It even has multiple personalities – the old Windows and the new Windows rolled into one – who you choose to play with depending on your whims. Maybe you could even date both at once. It’s a new era for Microsoft and the user experience.

Windows 8 is a big risk for Microsoft, and while they seem to have a great and well thought-out design for their new operating system, they also appear to be playing the game of hardware lust. So far most of the emphasis around Windows 8 has actually been on the glossy new hardware such as the Microsoft Surface.

And the reviewers and customers are lapping it up - hyper focussing and nit-picking every detail of the hardware – comparing it to the competition and yes, more gorgeous photos from every conceivable angle. The reviews go into lavish details about the bezel, the smart cover keyboard and the whip-out stand which goes “ka-ching!” …then they go, “…oh, by the way it runs the new Windows 8 and yeah, we’re still working that bit out”.

The hardware fiesta can only last so long. They all look similar. Feel similar. They’re even made in the same places.

My prediction is that 2013-2014 will reignite the wars of the operating systems.

The Windows 8’s personality will start to take hold. Some will be in love. Others will hate it.

Apple’s iOS looks like it’s in for an overdue shake-up with the promotion of Jonathan Ive. It’ll be fascinating to see how he reshapes the digital experience of Apple.

And Android? Well, those clever copycats will probably wait and see as usual; plucking off the best bits from Microsoft and Apple into a rather attractive, yet confused personality that we’ll learn to love despite all its quirks.

Can’t wait.