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Trung Phan Profile picture
@TrungTPhan
Oct 27, 2021 • 23 tweets • 10 min read • Read on X
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Apple has sold ~2B iPhones.

With a clear understanding of human psychology, Apple designed its packaging to make these ~2B new iPhone unboxing experiences very memorable (and prob why you can't get rid of the box).

Here's a breakdown 🧵
1/ Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone in January 2007.

During the presentation, he noted that Apple had filed or been granted 200+ patents for the device.

One of the patents: the iPhone case. Image
2/ Jobs and Jony Ive long understood the value of packaging.

As Ive recounts: "Steve and I spend a lot of time on the packaging. I love the process of unpacking something. You design a ritual of unpacking to make the product feel special. Packaging can be theater." Image
3/ As the last thing someone feels before seeing their phone, Apple put in 1000s of hours perfecting the package.

There's literally a "packaging room" where a design employee will spend months opening up 100s of protoypes (w/different materials + shapes) to nail the experience. Image
4/ What are they looking for?

Lux-feeling boxes w/ the right friction and drag to create a brief pause when you open it (air pockets have to be *just right*).

Like the moment before a magician's reveal, Jobs knew the power of anticipation and designed it into iPhone packaging.
5/ There's a reason why unboxing videos on YouTube get billions of views a year.

The anticipation -- even when we know what's coming -- plays right into the curiosity gap: our psychological need to close the information deficit between what we know and what we *want* to know. Image
6/ iPhone openings are also a multi-sensory experience:

◻️You *see* the box
◻️You *feel* the opening as you pull against friction
◻️You *hear* the whoosh of air rushing out

This adds to the theatre and creates a powerful memory recall effect like this:
7/ Small details at every step make bring about the "ritual" Ive spoke about:

◻️Pulling the box's plastic off with a tab
◻️The entire opening experience
◻️Peeling back the screen protector
◻️Inspecting cords/earbuds held in origami paper

All of this before turning the phone on. Image
8/ Even if you're not a fan of Apple, it's easy to see how a customer can use the heuristic: "Wow, if they're spending *this* much time on the packaging, the rest is probably pretty good too."

The detail in Apple's packaging is a great example of Jobs' "back of the fence" story: Image
9/ Apple's packaging in general has a clear understanding of human psychology and how people shop.

The designs give all relevant info in an eye-catching and quick-to-process manner:

◻️Pictures > words
◻️Image sizes are "as in real life"
◻️Clean/minimalist so as not to overwhelm Image
10/ In another patent application for *iPod* cases, Apple writes:

"It may diminish from the aura of a well-designed product to present it to consumers in a standard cardboard box. A package that is more fitting of the high-tech design of the product is what consumers expect.” Image
11/ In the surest sign that Apple's packaging has reached a new level vs. other consumer tech products, people hoarding iPhone boxes is a meme.

With all the effort Apple's team put into it, not really a surprise. Image
12/ If you enjoyed that, I write threads breaking down tech and business 1-2x a week.

Def follow @TrungTPhan to catch them in your feed.

Here's one you may enjoy:
13/ I discuss interesting topics like this once a week (with a healthy dose of dumb jokes) on the Not Investment Advice (NIA) podcast.

🔗 linktr.ee/notinvestmenta… Image
14/ Sources

Packaging New: packagingnews.co.uk/news/apples-ip…

Cult of Mac:
cultofmac.com/13435/steve-jo…

9to5 Mac:
9to5mac.com/2011/10/24/isa…

Linkedin: linkedin.com/pulse/experien…

The "Inside Apple" book has the best detail on iPhone packaging (and a great read): amazon.com/Inside-Apple-A… Image
14/ This was pretty funny: back in the early 2000s, Microsoft employees mocked themselves by creating "Microsoft-themed" packaging for the iPod:

🔗nuvonium.com/blog/view/paro… Image
15/ Here's a meme for all the Apple haters lol Image
16/ FYI: you may also enjoy this read
17/ My Apple box hoarding isn’t too bad Image
18/ Former Apple employee told me the iPhone box-opening *whoosh* can also be thought of as sound signature (comparable to Netflix “ta-dum”)
19/ Received this DM regarding Jony Ive and “the reveal” Image
20/ Very last thing
21/ An example of Steve Jobs emphasis on good packaging from the 1980s (for Macs).

Via @ShaneAParrish podcast ()

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More from @TrungTPhan

Trung Phan Profile picture
Sep 19
PayPal’s bland logo redesign was inevitable
Image
If you are the person that did the un-aligned letters for the previous eBay logo, please contact the research app team. We are huge fans of how un-aligned the “e” is with the “y”.Bearly.AI
This article offers up reasons for popularity of simple font logos (mostly Sans Serif):

— Easier to standardize ads across mediums
— Improves readability (especially on mobile)
— The “brand” matters more than the logo velvetshark.com/why-do-brands-…
Read 4 tweets
Trung Phan Profile picture
Sep 1
Berkshire Hathaway board member Chris Davis once asked Charlie Munger why Costco didn’t drop the membership card.

Let anyone shop and raise prices by 2% (still great value), thus making up for lost membership fees (and more).

Munger said the card is important filter:

▫️“Think about who you’re keeping out [with a membership card]. Think about the cohort that won’t give you their license and their ID and get their picture taken.

Or they aren’t organized enough to do it, or they can’t do the math to realize [the value]…that cohort will have a 100% of your shoplifters and a 100% of your thieves. Now, it’ll also have most of your small tickets.

And that cohort relative to the US population will probably be shrinking as a % of GDP relative to the people that can do the math [on Costco’s value].”▫️

I have a membership but have been guffing on the math for a few years tbh. They keep telling me to upgrade from Gold to Business but I’m too lazy (even if the 2-3% Cash Back on Business pays back after a few trips).

This is a long way of saying Costco’s membership price hike effective today — its first in 7 years — is annoying but when I decide to do the math in a few months, it’ll be worth it.

***

Chris Davis’ remarks from this episode of The Knowledge Project: open.spotify.com/episode/6fJYHF…Image
Anyway, here is something I wrote about Costco’s $9B+ clothing business my affinity for Kirkland-branded socks and Puma gym shirts. readtrung.com/p/costcos-9b-c…
Two notes:

▫️Meant “Executive” (not “Business”) membership
▫️Chris Davis was doing a pure thought experiment. Costco membership obvi high margin (on~$5B a year) and accounts for majority of Costco profits. Retail margin is tiny on ~$230B of annual sales (Costco would need like another $150B+ from letting anyone shop to make up membership profits)Image
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Read 5 tweets
Trung Phan Profile picture
Aug 15
One of the Team USA rowers who won a Gold Medal is an investment banker and actually did the “B2B SaaS Sales” joke on Linkedin. Legend. Image
Here’s the rest of the post (perfectly formatted to show up in the feed as a shitpost): linkedin.com/feed/update/ur…
Image
Justin if you’re reading this and are available for consulting, the research app team would love to engage your B2B SaaS knowledge for our Q4 sales roadmapBearly.AI
Read 4 tweets
Trung Phan Profile picture
Aug 7
Explainer video on science of why the 400m sprint is considered the most painful track & field event.

And why “no person on the planet can run the 400m all out from start to finish".

The race pushes the way the body creates energy to the limit:

▫️0-50 meters: ATP-CP (energy system for very short and explosive movements; used up after 5-10 seconds)

▫️50-200 meters: Anaerobic glycolysis (burns glucose without oxygen, leading to lactic acid buildup and muscle fatigue)

▫️200-300 meters: Aerobic energy (uses oxygen to break down glucose, but cannot keep up with the demand)

▫️300-400 meters: Anaerobic energy reserves tapped while aerobic energy is too slow to fill the gaps (lactic acid buildup is going HAM)

Track athletes can pace for longer distances and shorter ones are just over quicker (obvs).

The Olympic record is a blazing 43:03, set by South African runner Wayde van Niekerk in 2016 (and 2024 Final race is tomorrow).

***

Full video from Outperform:
Usain Bolt ran the 400m early in career but then said training was “too hard”.

The 400m Hurdles is a world of pain too for similar reasons — Vox has a good vid on it:

Here is a great breakdown of Wayde van Niekerk’s record run:

Image
The 400m is also tough because you don’t get the benefit of an absolute baller like Bottle Klaus keeping hydrated
Read 5 tweets
Trung Phan Profile picture
Jul 20
The amount of work Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli team put into a film is mind-boggling.

Each typically has 60k-70k frames, all hand-drawn and painted with water color.

This 4-second clip (“The Wind Rises”) took one animator 15 months to do. Insane.
The docu “10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki” shows him talking to the animator (Eiji Yamamori) after its done.

It’s so good:

Miyazaki: “Good job.”
Yamamori: “It’s so short, though”
Miyazaki: “But it was worth it.”

The animator gets a second of joy (he’s pumped) but on to the next.
Miyazaki doesn’t use digital FX or computer graphics. He believes “that the tool of an animator is the pencil.”

On a related note, here’s something I wrote about another Japanese legend dedicated to the craft (Ichiro Suzuki) and the art of mastery: readtrung.com/p/jerry-seinfe…
Read 4 tweets
Trung Phan Profile picture
Jul 9
New York City paid Mckinsey $4m to conduct a feasibility study on whether trash bins are better than leaving garbage on the street.

The deck is 95-slides long and titled “The Future of Trash”.

Some highlights:

▫️The official term is “containerization”, which is the “storage of waste in sealed, rodent-proof receptacles rather than in plastic bags placed directly on the curb.”

▫️Two main types of containerization: 1) individual bins for low density locales; 2) shared containers for high-density.

▫️NYC needs to clean up 24,000,000lbs of garbage a day

▫️Containerization has only become the norm worldwide in major cities in the past 15 years.

▫️New York City first considered containerization in the 1970s but never conducted a feasibility study until now (Mckinsey’s sales team has been dropping the ball)

▫️Key considerations for container viability:

• POPULATION DENSITY: NYC has 30k residents per square mile (more dense than comparable big cities)

• BUILT ENVIRONMENT: Few places to “hide” containers due to history of infrastructure development.

• WEATHER: Snow creates challenges for “mechanized collection” in the winter.

• CURB SPACE: Mostly taken up by bus stops, bike lanes, outdoor dining and fire hydrants.

• COLLECTION FREQUENCY: NYC needs to double frequency of pick-up for estimated speed of trash that bins would accumulate.

• FLEET: A new garbage truck will needs to be designed to collect rolling bins at scale.

▫️ The proposed solution (literally garbage bins and shared containers) covers 89% of NYC streets and 77% of residential tonnage.

▫️The three case studies — because you gotta have solid case studies — are Amsterdam, Paris and Barcelona.

▫️There is a slide called “Why containerization matters” and three reasons are “rats”, “pedestrian obstruction” and “dirty streets” (the 21-year intern that did this slide billed at prob $10k an hour is my hero).

The study is actually pretty interesting.

I have no idea if $4m is a rip-off to learn that “yeah, we should put garbage in bins so rats don’t eat it” but I would have happily done it for 10-20% of that budget (and come to a similar conclusion).Image
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It is actually an interesting deck. Just the thought of a 20-year old newly grad getting billed at an obscene rate to say”rats get to garbage” is kinda funny

Four more solid slides:
— By the numbers (daily garbage = 140 Statue of Liberty a day!!)
— City comparison
— Container comparison (looks like they did select the “scalable” trash bin)
— Curb side analysis

Full deck here: dsny.cityofnewyork.us/wp-content/upl…Image
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Think Mckinsey telling NY to “put garbage in bins so rats don’t eat it and people can walk” will work out better than when it told AT&T in 1981 that cellphones would be “niche.”

That cost AT&T $13B and one worst business predictions ever as I wrote here: readtrung.com/p/the-worst-te…
Read 6 tweets

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