Somewhere in Cupertino an interaction designer is having palpitations.

But I look at this and I see a beautiful seamless interaction, between this tourist in Seattle, their iPad and the world around them – the practical/functional aspects of it being good enough if not better to capture the experience, the theatre around owning and projecting out (what is likely to be considered) a status symbol. We all project out in some shape or form, we don’t all do it in this way. From research in China male Chinese consumers tend to project out in ways that are by most metrics considered crasser than with other demographic/cultures (I have no idea on the ethnicity of this person).

This, and thousands of situations like this is Apple’s Jersey Shore Abercrombie & Fitch moment.

Technology driven signifiers of status tend to wear off quickly, they lose their appeal, their shine.

This beautiful moment will soon pass.

So enjoy it while you can.

(That two handed- absorbed-by-the-screen interact-with-the-device-and-not-the-place will get a kick when a decent AR app – think real-time sexual preferences, salary information or other compelling content of people around youf).