McDonald's... What an excellent and fortuitous choice for an analogy! (Unfortunately, though, you happened on McDonald's many years too late to appreciate its evolution into the place to which
you took your daughters your daughters took you.)
McDonald's is, in its essence, a fast-food company...the creator of the fast-food concept, as a matter of fact.
Quoted from
McDonald's - Wikipedia:
The business began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California. Their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant.
I remember the first McDonald's in Brooklyn (my neck of it, anyhow), which opened in the early '70s...
McDonald's tag-line at the time was (more or less)
"You can feed your whole family, (of 4, I always assumed)
with a $5 bill and go home with change."You took your family to an impeccably clean and comfortable place, got served quickly, enjoyed your relatively good quality, good tasting meal, and went home with change from your fin.
It Just Worked![scratch...scratch] Now where have I heard that before? [/scratch]
Then, gradually - it was the result of an evolution rather than a single event - McDonald's changed...
radically...from a place where
you took your kids to a place where
your kids took you.
All the original attractions were still in place (Well... The $5 evolved, too.), but, in addition, your kids played in the playground before and after eating their
"Happy Meal," they went home with a toy and/or a promo item, and you went home with a scratch-off ticket and/or a promo item (in addition to the change from your $50
).
User Experience!I'll be damned... I've heard that before, too.
Similarly, Apple is, in its essence, a hardware company that, from its humble beginnings as a place where
you wanted to be, because
It Just Worked, is evolving into a place where
you have to be, because it is a, or should I say
the,
User Experience!
"It Just Works" was on both drawing boards when McDonald's and Apple broke from the gate; "User Experience" was probably not even a pipe-dream at the time.
"User Experience" is the result of years of McDonald's and Apple's having analyzed, developed, and improved (theoretically, anyhow), their business models.
