| Is the
iPod the best mp3 player around? Possibly, it's certainly outselling
all the others put together, controling over 70% of the market.
Interesting that it has the least features of all its competitors.
So what's going on? Anyone who owns an iPod or an Apple Mac knows.
Apple products appeal emotionally and asthetically. Other manufacturers
seem to 'over design' and over complicate things. This is why Apple
is doing so well at the moment; their products appeal to the right
brain directives of wholeness, meaning and empathy.
According to Steve Jobs, Aple CEO
and co-founder, one major reason for the iPod's success was its
relative simplicity.
"Look at the design of a lot
of consumer products—they're really complicated surfaces.
We tried make something much more holistic and simple."
Jobs was asked if he was worried
about Microsoft's new media player (Zune) and its "community"
features:
"In a word, no. I've seen the
demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person
using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times. It
takes forever. By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's
got up and left! You're much better off to take one of your earbuds
out and put it in her ear. Then you're connected with about two
feet of headphone cable."
Proving that the best solution is
usually the simplest. Always ask yourself, 'what am I trying to
achieve here?' In the case Steve mentions above you want to share
your music to get connected with someone. The idea isn't to prove
wireless technology. Some companies seem to have lost awareness
of the benefits in their race to prove how good their features are.
Not Apple, and the sales figures speak for themselves.
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