“The screens of all laptops in Apple stores are set at an angle of exactly 76 degrees, which is just awkward enough to invite people to tilt them back a bit more, thereby taking the first step toward interacting with the product. (Business Insider)”
From this list of 52 things that Kent Hendricks found interesting this year.
This made me think:
How many of the things I innocently interact with have been intentionally set up to get me to do something or feel something?
This is an incredible detail.
Think: if this is true, or even true most of the time, that all laptops in Apple stores across the world are set at an angle of 76 degrees, this is an extraordinary example of collaboration, direction, training, and implementation that, at a different company, could get you laughed out of the room or thought crazy!
There are ~540 Apple Stores across the globe.
Each day, it is, presumably, on someone’s checklist in those stores to tilt each laptop screen to a 76 degree angle. And then readjust it at some point, or points, during the day to coerce the 2 PM round of customers.
We might imagine that when someone, or some special team within Apple, came up with this idea, they spent hours over weeks, maybe even months, articulating this plan, pitching it to someone else with more influence than them, getting it approved, and somehow disseminating that plan from Headquarters to the Store Managers for them to take and implement.
The detail!
In some way, this feels like “made up work” in the same way you might assume that most people clacking away on those very same Apple laptops in a $8-latte-coffee-shop are doing “made up work.”
But, I’d venture a guess that this little details adds a not-insignificant amount to Apple’s market cap, which means it’s adding a not-insignificant amount to GDP.
You might ask the question:
If we tilt Apple laptops to a 65 degree angle, how much does GDP go down?
Or, if we tilt Apple laptops to an 87 degree angle, how much will that affect a young couple’s ability to buy a home in Topeka in 3 years?
This is a great reminder that reality has a surprising amount of detail.
It should also make us wonder: where the other 76-degree-angle-easter-eggs are in our life that are getting us to do or feel some thing?
And how much does that make GDP go up or down?
I just GDP as a generalization here to basically say, “how much does this change or affect ‘the world’”?