31–40 of 106 posts
BS.
Some people prefer simplicity, some prefer complexity. I'm not sure where the median is, it might be on either side. Preference can be a function of many things, including culture.
You can make money from either. Just know your customer.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
well it certainly might explain the "overpriced toy" reaction to their products from some people
I totally had an awesome picture to link to here to prove my point but I can't find it. Suffice to say that Apple pricing their bog-standard SATA hard disks at 39 cents a gigabyte (a high market price being 19 cents), and a similar attitude to the rest of their perfectly average hardware, explains the "overpriced toy" reaction to their products.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption
Your new toaster might have too many buttons and displays for you to use effectively, but it will surely impress the heck out of the next visitor. In fact, it's arguable that conspicuous consumption is the _only_ reason why you'd buy a $250 toaster with a dozen buttons instead of of a $20 toaster with a knob.
I think before the advent of personal computing, a bit of extra complexity was ok. Life was pretty simple. You had a car, a stereo, a tv with a button for each channel, a stove/oven, and a calculator. You actually had room in your mind and time in your weekend to read the manual and figure out your new VCR. It was fun! Making complex things was actually expensive to do, so a microwave with lots of functions cost more…
Possibly detection on what it is toasting ( ie: hash-browns, muffin-splits ) and "smarter" toasting ( ie: using an optical sensor to measure surface browning, and using a laser thermometer to measure core temperature ( which is required for hash browns because they're often still cold in the middle :( ) ), but these are all purely practical features and I'd want the toaster still 100% practical with no knowledge of these features.
But I'm guessing these sorts of features are not the ones they implement, and probably add silly things like an LCD screen with a countdown timer, and a blingy screensaver, and a robotic toast loader ( ok, on the other side I can see how that would be useful, I do get annoyed every time the toaster is a little too eager and throws my toast in the air and into the sink ..... ) , and they probably add useless features like bread-decorating toasting with high powered lasers or something equally stupid.
I suppose a counter-argument to this would be... anything Apple makes? Their non-computer products generally have fewer buttons on them than comparable phones/mp3 players. The MiFi that was just being raved about earlier today also only has an on/off button. Perhaps those are exceptions, rather than the rule. What makes those exceptional, though?
Apple Mac's aren't a success considering their market share. [Personal opinions are irrelevant] Your argument is fallacious: iPod evolved to address the feature issue: so from a single Classic iPod you now have shuffle, nano and touch. even within each type say iPod nano there has been considerable change. Check out the latest nano and the earlier one, adding touchscreen is same as adding complexity. It's probably yo…
Some companies prefer market share. Some companies prefer profit.
Your definition of success is your personal opinion, which you admit is irrelevant.
"While Apple only commands 7 percent of overall revenues in the PC market, its products account for 35 percent of the operating profits. None of the other manufacturers—which includes such giants as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo—comes even close to matching Apple’s five-to-one ratio between revenue and profit share."
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-revenue-vs-o...
For instance, the washing machine that needs two buttons but has 20. Two buttons on a washing machine, if designed well, is a great marketing opportunity. BUT you would have to design it with a way to SHOW the user all of the things that the machine is actually doing, like how the prius shows you what it's doing. Give it a sleek, standout design, and you've got a high-end, high-dollar washing machine.
Thing is, that means someone has to step outside the box and do something different than their competitors. Slapping lots of 'features' on a machine is cheap and gives the sales guys lots of fodder for B.S., no extra training required.
Look at Apple's products, look at the Toyota Prius. Complex machines that simplify the tasks they do. And they're selling very well.
Ultimately, design and marketing have to make simple mean more, not less, to middle America. And someday, probably soon, when every washing machine has 20 knobs and I need to push 10 buttons to toast a piece of bread, simplicity will be the new selling point.
Back when a food company was coming out with cake mixes, it discovered that cooks felt bad about just adding water & stirring. They redid the recipe so that it was necessary to add an egg, and everyone was happier.
From the Zen of Python:
Simple is better than complex.
Complex is better than complicated.
Flat is better than nested.
Flattening an interface helps the learning curve. If you need to set the time on your microwave, bet on the "time" button. On the other hand, I still need to ask my girlfriend how to set her iPod to "shuffle," or shut it off, or reset it when it freezes.