Already Here

"The future is already here, it's just that it's not so common." - Mr Abel Choy

Multimedia is a computer-based interactive communications process that incorporates text, graphics, sound, animation, and video. There are many major categories of multimedia application, such as entertainment, education, engineering and corporate communications.

Two examples are the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic multimedia presentation and the Official Apple iPhone 4 Video.

Comparing them both, I find the latter more impressive. Even though it is roughly five minutes longer than the Nokia presentation, already considered time consuming for some, I find that every bit of information of what the consumers should know is provided. From the functions of the iPhone to the material it is made of. This gives consumers full knowledge of the phone. It also shows consumers the iPhone has quality, and is not just a pretty little toy.

Although both presentations are well-structured, with the Nokia one even divided into the different types of functions, the iPhone 4 presentation is given a human voice, in that there is speech accompanying the video. This speech brings the audience through the video in a step-by-step basis. Further, authorities are used in the presentation - the vice-president of product marketing, senior vice-president of hardware, etc. This provides expert opinion, which is very useful in persuading people to buy the product. In this aspect, I think the Nokia presentation pales in comparison because there is only text and music. For someone like me who prefers audio as opposed to text, this presentation definitely does not appeal to me.

In addition, the mechanics of the phone is presented, showing consumers what they are getting themselves into. The public is even taught how to use the phone, such as the multi-tasking function, sorting of the icons and viewing their emails from multiple accounts in a single inbox.

Towards the end, the main ideas of the message is reiterated, summing up everything, while the Nokia presentation does not.

Hence I would say the iPhone 4 presentation impresses me more.

Even though both are multimedia presentations, there are many ways to go about doing it. I believe one way for companies to make the presentations better is to first do a formative research to check the preference of their target audience.