

Has Apple failed on its design promise - cjwake
http://cjwake.com/?p=65

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pedalpete
I have always seen Apple's design promise as being 'we create beautiful
products that people want' more than 'we create functional products that
people want'.

If I understand Donald Norman's design philosophy correctly, he says 'create
something beautiful and people will think it performs better than it actually
does'.

Therefore, Apple hasn't failed on their design promise. They promise to make
beautiful products and market them in such a way that people can't stop
drooling and talking about them.

If the question is does Apple make high quality products that work, we can't
blame all the flaws on AT&T, Apple released a phone that drops the signal if
you hold it in your right hand, and this is a 'feature' that Jobs promoted as
exceptional design! It may be exceptional because it is beautiful and allowed
them to make the phone thinner. It isn't exceptional because it works.

~~~
cjwake
This is a fair point.

I believe that you are absolutely correct that the Apple design promise has
incorporated beauty as a key component, however I still contend that there has
always been an element of function as well, even if only implied. Consider
Apple's early beginnings, all urban legends and anecdotes aside. Apple found
initial success by providing "beautiful" products that were built so virtually
any user could handle them - they offered simple, clean functionality, as
embodied by the user-interface and the original Apple Mouse for navigation.

Further, consider all of the Apple commercials from recent history - "I'm a
Mac v. I'm a PC" - each episode was based on an implied simplicity (function)
and beauty of Macs, as opposed to their clunky and confusing PC rivals. Apple
has since pulled those commercials in favor of a new angle - perhaps, to your
point, something that will focus not on function, but on aesthetic appeal
alone going forward.

To your point regarding AT&T, I agree that they are not solely to blame here.
The dropped call problem with the iPhone 4 is certainly a design flaw, not one
to be blamed on the carrier - though problems with AT&T are not to be ignored
completely either.

I would not be surprised if further design flaws emerge around the iPhone 4 in
the coming months, but I believe that these speak more to my point here that
Apple has neglected its promise for equal parts function and beauty.

...And as an aside, I was spurred to write the original post when I realized
that the iPhone 4 received all of the really neat features that I had expected
and wanted to see in the iPad. Apple has historically kept me drooling for the
next great thing, but in this case, perhaps the release dates were just too
close together and their lack of foresight too blatant for me to let go
without a word or two on the topic.

