Marc My Words: Want a Free iPad? Get an Equus

Iknow how you can get a free iPad. It’s easy; just buy a $60,000Hyundai Equus.

Ina recent article in USAToday,Korean car company Hyundai says it will scrap the user manual for itsnew, top-of-the-line luxury automobile, the Equus. Instead, they’llprovide an interactive “app” on a freeiPad (watch the commercial).The article goes on to say that many luxury car user manuals are aslong as 1,000 pages. Now, I know you’re thinking this is a coolapplication for the iPad, and it is.

Butfirst – 1,000 page long user manuals? Really? Are you kidding me?Who in their right mind would put up with that? No wonder we can’tfigure out how to run the gizmos in our cars; the user manualoverwhelms us. Its size and complexity (not to mention itsincoherence in some places) frustrates us. When we can’t operatethe navigation system or the entertainment system; when we can’tconnect our cell phones or understand what all the “idiot lights”mean, we call for help. From the dealer or company’s perspective,repeatedly responding to inquiries, on the phone or in person, isvery costly and a drain on productivity. As automobile sophisticationgoes up, the ability to explain it goes down. This pushes customersatisfaction down and drives company costs up.

Tocounter this trend, Hyundai’s move to shift the user manual to theiPad is brilliant. Not only is the iPad-based manual moreillustrative and interactive, but e-Learning modules, knowledgebases, video demonstrations, discussion boards, social media, andother interesting techniques can be used. And, if Hyundai is smart,they can update the manual on a regular basis, including havingmore-focused help where customers are most perplexed.

Thisillustrates a new and important area for integrating e-Learning,mLearning, and performance support. It’s where we need to go to anda strategy we need to master. That is, identifying a problem –learning or performance – and then thinking differently about howtechnology can help. The iPad as user manual is not a knee-jerkreaction like throwing training at any problem, no matter what thecause. Neither is it a more conservative solution like simplyrewriting the manual and putting it online (although I am sure mostmanuals would benefit from a review by someone who can actually writewell). It is, in some ways, transformative; a complete rethinkingof just what user support can and should be for the operation of anautomobile (and, literally thousands of other products couldbenefit).

I wonder though, who came up with this idea? Was it a training or performance professional? Did it emerge from the e-Learning group, or did Apple suggest it? Perhaps Hyundai engineers thought it up … or the marketing team. Maybe it was a customer idea. I’d like to think that someone in our field put the idea forward, but if not, that’s OK. I hope that ideas like this will inspire us all to rethink what we do.

As neat as this idea is, I do have some thoughts for Hyundai to consider, so i hope they’re listening … 

1. I love the iPad, but Hyundai, why didn’t you just build the app directly into the navigation system or put it on a system-compatible DVD? OK, perhaps those weren’t practical or “cool” enough ideas for some reason. So let’s move on.
2. According to news reports, you’re giving customers an iPad with WiFi but no 3G. I understand you don’t want them to pay for connectivity, so I hope your entire app is loaded onto the iPad. I would hate for someone with a flat tire to have to get on the Web for a solution when there is likely no connectivity available.
3. I love the idea of an iPad in a glove box (wait a second, there’s a car with a practical glove box big enough to hold an iPad? What will they think of next?). But you know people will not keep the iPad in the car. They’re going to take it into the house and their kids are going to play with it. So you’re out in the middle of nowhere with car trouble, but you left the iPad on the kitchen table. Now what? Perhaps Hyundai might have a fallback solution you could keep in the car. I know – how about a book? Just kidding … sort of.
4. In the unlikely event that the iPad is in the glove box when you actually need it, I would certainly recommend that Hyundai provide a car charger.

All kidding aside,the iPad as user manual – or user performance support – is agreat idea in so many ways. So Hyundai, can I have one? You candecide – the iPad or the car.