“It Gives Great Demo”

There’s that famous video of Steve Jobs explaining why they don’t didn’t make touchscreen MacBooks:

We thought about [a touch screen MacBook] years ago. We’ve done tons of user testing on this and it turns out it doesn’t work! Touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical. It gives great demo. But after a short period of time, you start to fatigue. And after an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off. It doesn’t work. It’s ergonomically terrible. Touch surfaces want to be horizontal […] that’s why we’ve perfected our multitouch trackpads over the years.

I’m not going to weigh in on the new MacBooks. But what I find specifically intriguing in this video — and broadly relevant — is that phrase: “It gives great demo.”

Damn, that is a great line for so much of technology.

“It gives great demo.”

Something that looks amazing when it’s presented to you, but in practical day-to-day use you discover, “Actually this is kinda terrible.”

Demo is everything nowadays. Whatever can garner attention. Who cares if it works in practice, does it give great demo? Because demo time is sale time.

The purpose of a demo is to get your attention. To make you think about the product and that it exists. But a great product often makes you forget it exists at all.

It seems like a paradox: we’re attracted to what stands out, but we become enamored with what disappears.

Of course, this doesn’t just apply to products. People can give great demo, too. You can make a whole career out of just giving great demo.