Black Friday represented the day my parents moved it iOS and in to the world of one of the best Eco systems. But is it that easy?

Previously, telephone numbers had been stored on my parents phone sims, which meant a separate entry for a friends mobile, home and office. You get the drift. So in preparation I explained to my parents what they needed to do. So my parents created new entries into Google Contacts for all their friends complete with postal addresses. It took them a few days to complete , but at least now they have the ability to use cloud syncing. They also added birthdays and calendar entries. This was the prep work done ready for the move to iOS with an iPhone and iPad.

So surely nothing could go wrong.

They chose Black Friday to visit Apple, so they could get the discounts. They both got the iPad Air, my dad a 5S, mum a 5C, an Apple TV and for some unknown reason my dad also got a Belkin WeMo. My mum didn’t go to the store as she was too busy that day and is not really bothered about tech and gadgets. The first I knew this was actually happening was by a surprise phone call from my dad at 8.20am. He explained he was first in the queue outside his local Apple store. I got regularly updates leading up to 9am of how the queue was getting bigger and bigger. At 11am I texted and asked how it all went. I got a reply back saying “still in the store”. OMG. What was happening. Well it was chaotically busy. Everyone wanted the reduced merchandise. My dad was moving from his HTC ChaCha which he had bought for the keyboard and loudspeaker. My mum had a Samsung Ace which she found terribly difficult to use. It was a free upgrade, which in all honesty was not a good move for her from her Doro handset. My dad like the HTC ChaCha because when the phone rung, if you answered and turned phone upside down it activated hands free mode and the loudspeaker. That was what he loved about it but sadly all Google’s app updates killed the memory and it constantly crashed. Anyway, we digress. Because the store was so busy my dad didn’t get all the help he should have got and so needs to return for some training sessions along with my mum. Apple have a policy apparently of providing only 15 mins for help with a personal setup. I’m sure if they weren’t so busy they would have spent longer. After 15 mins they ask you to return for the one hour training sessions on either the iPad or iPhone.

So after 3 hours he heads back home, and the first thing he does is go and have a snooze being totally exhausted. The next thing that occurs was my iPad starts ringing. It’s my dad making a FaceTime Audio call. It transpires he was trying to make a standard mobile phone call but somehow made a FaceTime Audio call instead. During the call, I changed it to a video FaceTime call. This surprised my dad and mum. Video to video! The other first impressions from my dad was just how easy iOS felt compared to android and other tech systems. He was amazed how the Smart Cover turned the iPad on and off too. Amazing how simple things can make a big difference. My dad was saying it was easy to use, yet was still having difficulties. One of the first questions or concerns was my dad saying it doesn’t connect to the internet. He was looking for internet explorer or an app that said internet. I said Apple’s app for the internet was called Safari. One problem solved. He opened that and it opened the at the current default page Apple.com. My dad wanted to search for something but couldn’t find how to search. I explained how to do this but again what you or I might find obvious was not that obvious.

Moving to my mum she was none to happy as firstly the default email app doesn’t show the Google auto filtered folders. So she thought she had lost her emails. Second, not only had she added all her contacts, she had created a few groups. So firstly email issues and next there was no way within the Apple Contacts app to display the groups. If you use iCloud contacts you can create and show your groupings. But not with Google Contact groups.

Surely contact groups is a basic thing to incorporate but clearly not. What this does highlight is the growing divide between platforms like Google, Apple and Windows Phone and the need to commit to one or the other to get the most out of it.

My mum was most annoyed that the contacts app showed surnames first, then first names. I showed her this be changed in the settings app, but it just goes to highlight the difference between the average tech minded person and those who are not tech minded.

As I was offering support remotely it was not as easy as being there in person. I’ve suggested they first have the Apple training and then ask me more questions. I’ve also told them to read the manuals. Most of the information sits in the manuals but who reads them!

They have yet to learn all about how or what their devices can really achieve, Siri and everything else.

I can sense an initial uphill struggle but hopefully one that will be rewarded once everything is setup and understood.