“It’s the question every designer has heard too many times to count: ‘Can you make me the iPod of (insert product name here)?’ And it’s not just makers of consumer electronics who ask. ‘I’ve been asked to make the iPod of boiler parts,” says Paul Bennett, creative director of Ideo,” Jessie Scanlon reports for BusinessWeek. “‘Apple is definitely setting the standard for product design today,’ says John Edson, president of Lunar Design. ‘We’re being asked to create wonderful products, you know, like the iPod. It’s still rare, though, that an organization has the force of will to make a product like this happen.'”
Scanlon reports, “Apple has long been noted for its design prowess, scooping awards and generating buzz with each new product unveiling. Still, not long ago executives at other companies would glance at Apple’s sliver share of the PC market and get back to the business of producing widgets better, faster, and more cheaply. The Apple lesson seemed to be: A few people will pay a premium for good design, but it’s not a smart business strategy.”
“Now that Apple’s share in PCs is increasing—helped along by the unprecedented success of its music player—business leaders across industries are taking note. After all, you can’t argue with 90 million units,” Scanlon reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
Jonathan Ive is amazing
I know that “Halo Effect” works because I’ve seen it too many times to be a coincidence. Four coworkers have bought Macs specifically because they loved their iPods so much (and I kept telling what they were missing).
They all can’t stop talking about how much they love their Macs, and how beautiful the machines and OS X are, but what they really like is the way it all just works…
~M
Apple excels at this because their belief in the value of design starts at the top with Steve. You can’t have the kind of commitment to design without the people at the top truly understanding and buying into the process.
Other companies say they want to be leaders in design, but really don’t have an understanding of what that truly means.
PC makers are about to learn a hard lesson: You can only be a shit-seller for so long. If customers only equate your brand with ‘cheap’, then your days are numbered, because ‘cheap’ never inspires loyalty.
Hear that, Mr. Dell?
I’m waiting to buy the 1 billionth iPod; after having bought 4 already -:)
MDM word. I’ts “simply” woth the wait
woth = worth
Nice contrast to what Gates was saying about Apple missing out on design variety.
The entire Mac line up is very impressive, however the hard-drive based iPods are crap.
90 milion units? is that how many ipods apple has sold already? is that acurate?
With Christmas sales iPod sales are most likely over 100 million.
> however the hard-drive based iPods are crap
Take that back. I have a 30 GB black iPod that doesn’t resemble a brown Zune in any way, shape or form.
There is a name for groups that try to copy excellent products, but only copy — usually poorly — the superficial stuff. They are called “cargo cults”. Google it.
“I’m waiting to buy the 1 billionth iPod; after having bought 4 already”
That might be a really long wait, though 100 million is right around the corner…
I second the kudos for the hard-drive-based iPods. My 10 Gig iPod’s still going strong after years of daily use (though it’s getting pretty scuffed up).
MW per, as in the cost per song enjoyed is just a fraction of a penny by now.
Hard drive based iPods are crap? Excuse me?
My 40GB iPod Photo is far more than an MP3 player. I transport large InDesign projects on it so I can work at the office or home (large as in a typical project is about 2GB). It’s the Firewire based model, which I think is far more elegant than the spawn of USB.
I also use it as a boot drive in case I want to use another person’s Mac. And I can use it to repair hard drive issues with Disk Warrior and Tech Tool Pro. It’s such a fantastic device and has so many different uses… I just love it!
Show me a Nano that can do all that. What? Oh. I see. I didn’t think so. Maybe someday. Digging on hard drive based iPods just shows your limited ability to take advantage of its features.
But you can be forgiven. After all, you’re just a kid – digital or otherwise.
People will pay more for quality as long as there is a benefit to that quality in the product itself or the organization behind it.
Macs and iPods are prime examples.
When I sold computers, purchasing agents would buy from our company, even though they were paying a bit more. I was told more than once, you guys are a bit higher, but I can justify it because over the long run your quality service will ultimately reduce cost.
mw: costs as in things generally cost more than the advertised price
HD based iPods are “crap”?
My 80GB is actually very sweet. It is nice to have a device that allows me to cart around my entire music collection and some other stuff. Sure, it doesn’t have a toaster oven, or a milk strainer, but it does have a click wheel. The reality is that this is the one feature that truly distinguishes the hardware in a manner that affects use. All HD based players are just that – HDs. Aside from whether or not the manufacturer does not scrimp on materials such that the sound is poor, the other differences are just cobbled on features that are for niche uses (voice recorder, radio, spam slicer, etc). I know some people like it, but I carry around all my music so that I DO NOT HAVE TO LISTEN TO RADIO! Sure, the screen is small, but even if the screen folded out to 2x the size of the device, I would not want to watch video on it. Oh, yeah, it doesn’t have a wifi card whose interesting uses have been disabled. Oh, the humanity!
Speaking of crap, I had the great honor of seeing someone’s old Dell DJ (abandoned in a spare room after purchase of an iPod). It had the look of a an off brand Walkman knockoff from 1983.
The secret is integration. The design concept is simple: take a systems approach to design of product, simplify the user interface.
The organizational concept is the same: take a systems approach to management problems. Think in terms of integration: where does the product fit in the overall system design?
Sounds pretty black and white to me.
Not many companies subscribe to this kind of thing. It comes down to consistent leadership with a vision of what can be, not what is.
” . . . because ‘cheap’ never inspires loyalty”
Which also explains the high divorce rate.
=) Good one.