How to Launch the Coolest Product in the World (Before It Exists)

The product marketing challenge behind Jony Ive’s OpenAI hardware

May 28, 2025

TL;DR: A look at the big product marketing questions that OpenAI will need to address as it prepares for what might be the most important product launch of the decade. But first, here’s a bit of context.

On an otherwise dull train journey home last week, I watched one of the most exciting product launch videos I’ve seen during my time working in tech. I can’t remember the last time I was so inspired - or filled with optimism - by a piece of product comms. Except, it didn’t actually feature a product in it…

The announcement of Apple design legend Jony Ive and OpenAI founder Sam Altman’s respective businesses joining forces to create AI-focused hardware for a new generation merely talked about the idea of a product. So how was I so excited for something that’s barely been built? (They say we’ll get to see it next year…)

Apple is the original great product marketing company so it’s no surprise that, with Ive’s involvement, the video is a masterclass in storytelling. And also a great example of how to build hype, with Altman declaring the new products an opportunity to “completely re-imagine what it means to use a computer" and that what he’s seen from Ive and the team so far is “the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen".

Ive’s company ‘io’ will become part of OpenAI in a $6 billion deal, with the newbies taking on full oversight of the company’s design work. It’s a team of some of the world’s best designers of every discipline.

But the all important question (for me at least) is: do they have any product marketers on the team?

Either way, I thought it’d be fun to imagine some of the product marketing questions the team will be tackling right now as product development goes into full swing.

Who will it be for?

This is my starting point for almost every product marketing project I take on.

And, reading between the lines, it feels like they’re coming for Apple users, right? The man who made so many globally loved Apple products is creating hardware that will rival (directly or indirectly) iPhones, MacBooks, Apple Watches and more. So you can be fairly sure this will be both extremely stylish and, thus, extremely premium.

One imagines the focus will be early tech adopters to begin with, like with most innovative hardware. But everyone will be watching. It will be the most reviewed and scrutinised bit of kit of the decade - maybe even further back than that.

What problems will it solve?

This is probably my favourite question when working on a new product. If the team doesn’t know what problem they’re solving - or worse, you realise there isn’t a problem to be solved - then it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

But for OpenAI, a few clear candidates jump out.

Usability

In the video, Altman rightly calls out the pain of using ChatGPT and other OpenAI tools on mobile and web. It’s clunky. The outcomes are incredible, but the journey there isn’t as smooth as sending an email or posting a photo.

Right now, hardware feels like a major constraint on reaching the full potential of AI. People want something frictionless - and ideally invisible - when interacting with AI. That’s the usability problem to solve.

Societal Ick

I’m not sure if ‘societal ick’ is a real phrase, but it feels like a thing in this context. I was at Google for the launch of Google Glass and remember the backlash vividly. Society as a whole had an allergic reaction to the technology. It was invasive, it was elitist, it was deeply uncool. Hence why the term ‘Glasshole’ became more popular than the product itself.

Hardware attempts to externalise the capabilities of AI, such as Humane’s AI Pin, have already stumbled - showing just how hard this will be to crack.

Whatever OpenAI unveils will need to feel like a natural fit in the real world. Not something from the future that alienates those who aren’t ready for AI, or can’t afford it.

Trust

There’s a lot to tackle here:

AI is coming for our jobs.
It’s going to be smarter than us.
It’s environmentally harmful.

And that’s just the first three challenges that come to mind.

Can Ive and the team help the human race feel good about what might be the biggest period of change since the industrial revolution?

What ‘jobs to be done’ should be the focus?

With products this powerful, the list of potential use cases is huge. Across consumer and business, from creative exploration to deep scientific work.

But great products don’t try to do everything at once. They win by solving a few high-value jobs exceptionally well. So what might those be for Open AI?

For consumers:

“Help me think better, faster.”

Everyday problem-solving, ideation, and writing support, without having to work hard with your prompts.

“Be my co-pilot for life admin.”

Booking, scheduling, summarising, and prioritising tasks - without switching between apps or interfaces.

“Help me make the most of my free time.”

From personalised entertainment to fitness coaching, AI that enhances leisure, not just productivity.

For professionals:

“Turn overwhelming information into clarity.”

AI that can summarise meetings, extract key decisions, and suggest follow-ups, seamlessly integrated into your workflows.

“Help me stay relevant in an AI-powered workplace.”

Tools that upskill and empower, not replace - and make AI feel like a trusted collaborator, not a threat.

“Let’s build something new, faster.”

If you’re starting a company, AI-powered tooling should accelerate innovation, handling research, prototyping, and even GTM planning.

All of this is a challenge for product marketing: figuring out which of these jobs the product should nail first, and for whom. Then building the narrative from there.

How will it differ from alternative solutions?

It’s not just about having a problem to solve. For positioning, you need to know how your product uniquely solves it, compared with alternative solutions.

It sounds unlikely that OpenAI’s product will be a pair of glasses or a wearable. So the likes of Meta Ray-Bans and Apple VisionPro will be indirect competitors at best. My gut feel is that the consumer product will be something closer to the Rabbit R1 but, then again, given the talent involved, it’s probably beyond my comprehension at this point.

So with the limitation of not knowing what’s being built, I’ll still have a stab at differentiation.

First, you have the synonymy of OpenAI with the AI movement. OpenAI is the market leader and thus it will make sense to consumers that its hardware products will be best-in-class.

Next, we’ll likely be looking at some seriously beautiful technology here, so there will likely be a style/brand factor in that consumers will choose it for it being the most fashionable available option, or the one that most aligns with their values i.e. the reason you pick one shirt or soft drink over another.

It will also likely tie into the broader OpenAI narrative I believe is going after (covered in a previous post): that the product seamlessly fits into everyday life - everywhere. And somehow involving a social identity that allows you to connect with other people and products. In other words, interconnectivity as a differentiator.

Messaging focus

Before any launch, product marketers need to think about the story. How you talk about a product this ambitious matters just as much as what it does.

This is a good time for a reminder that messaging isn’t copy. A fellow product marketing consultant, Logan Hendrickson, came up with a great analogy. Messaging is the plot, copy is the script.

The launch video has many clues about what the message will be. Altman’s ‘coolest piece of technology’ quote sets the expectations sky‑high for what this product will deliver. While Ive’s emphasis on creativity, and the need to totally rethink the tech, shines through. So I would expect a narrative built on three pillars:

Human‑Centric: AI that fades into the background. Frictionless. Making interaction with AI simpler and more intuitive.
Unlocked Potential: Empower everyone's creativity, allowing anybody to bring their ideas to life.
Responsible: Similar to Apple’s push on privacy over the past decade, this will be crucial to sticking the land. OpenAI will be pushing a ‘Trust us’ message across its products, from responsible product development to tackle environmental challenges, to promoting safe usage for children and those who might be vulnerable to the technology.

I’ll have to set a reminder in a year or two, to see how close I was with this short product marketing exercise.

In the meantime, it’s unlikely OpenAI needs any more cooks in the kitchen for their products, but if your team is working on new product development, needs a value prop refresh, or wants to better understand the market you’re playing in - let’s chat.

Cheers! 👋