Science Forums 2

[geokker]

Apple are capable of (and have perpetrated) monumental design disasters, poor business decisions and bone-headed implementation (illuminated, upside down logo?). The iPod has gone through some questionable iterations and has included poor design elements e.g. no in-ear audible feedback when using the remote control, external audible feedback - handy when you've wearing the earphones, touch-sensitive buttons, Orangina* Shuffle etc. (Not much etc. though.)

My question is again, why is it that huge portable music specialist companies fail so miserably to compete with the iPod as far as the consumer experience is concerned? I don't want to hear about how good the iPod is - we know how good it is. Why is the competition so disproportionately garbage? Build quality, materials, aesthetics, advertising, cachet - with every possible yardstick, they're buried. Apple illegally (Apple Records agreement) entered the music biz and instantly conquered it and continue to dominate seemingly unstoppable. Why? I'm fairly confident I could design something comparable at least, something that humiliates the steaming chutney that is Creative Zen.

* Orangina is a low quality French drink which has a gunky precipitate at the bottom which was spinned as a 'feature': 'Shake the drink, wake the taste'. The iPod Shuffle without a display is a similar product. All potential consumers should puctuate their queries with 'Yeah, but it doesn't have a display - do you think I'm mental?'