As I mentioned last time, once you log-in to http://developer.apple.com/iphone you will click on iOS Provisioning Portal, a “title” that demonstrates by its very nature that Apple is run by a bunch of IT people. “iOS Provisioning Portal…” Really, Apple? Who named that? I mention this as an aside because I imagine it’s a very common phenomenon at just about every tech-centered business that involves software. Which, is really all any website is, a piece of software. The problem is that IT folks are rarely marketing people — their minds are not alike. So a name like “iOS Provisioning Portal” makes perfect sense to the IT people responsible for naming that section, categorizing the site, and programming the functionality. After all, that is without a doubt the EXACT name of what it is.
The problem is that for the rest of us, which describes 99% of your customers, by the way, Apple, “iOS Provisioning Portal” is gobbley-gook that means nothing and in no way encourages us to click on it.
We run into that problem at Outskirts Press, too. We will launch a new option and instead of it being called something logical or customer-centric like “Custom Cover for Your Hardback” it will often wind up in a customer’s shopping cart with the unwieldy name of “F2 C_Cov Lam_HB” until I test it in a live environment and rename it.
But, I digress… Back to the certification process, which I will continue next…
President of Outskirts Press 