Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

•  

  

  MPR, Dec 12th, 2008 @ 10:55am

  
  

  design design

  "the ability to deliver more functionality at lower prices"
  
  things can actually be designed to deliver more functionality at lower prices, so how is that "beyond design"?
  
  design is more than colourways, and designing under constraints (such as BOM costs) is still design.
  
  or, did i miss something?!

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  David, Dec 12th, 2008 @ 12:43pm

  
  

  Re: design design

  Anything can be designed to do something. So I guess nothing can be "beyond design".

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  nasch, Dec 13th, 2008 @ 10:15am

  
  

  Re: Re: design design

  There's also manufacturing and marketing.

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  Henry Ford, Dec 12th, 2008 @ 11:11am

  
  

  Model T

  "You may get the Model T Ford in any color you like, so long as it is black."

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  Anonymous Coward, Dec 12th, 2008 @ 11:17am

  
  

  No, it doesn't take a history lesson to figure out colors but it does take one to convinced the heads at Apple that offering different colors would be a profitable thing on a product line that's already as successful as is.
  
  Apple is in the tradition of telling you what you want instead of letting you chose what you want. For the longest time, that color was white and white only. They ditched the original imac (ones that look like tv tubes) color pallets long ago. So in today's apple, even the introduction of a black color was major departure from their design motto (ie, black macbook)
  
  so ya, you did missed something.

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  Collin, Dec 12th, 2008 @ 12:40pm

  
  

  Re:

  That's funny, I pretty clearly remember the iMac coming in different colors 3 years before the iPod hit the market. So different colored iPods was not a "major departure from their design motto".

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  Anonymous Coward, Dec 12th, 2008 @ 12:50pm

  
  

  Not sure how this is a design matter. Seems entirely a marketing matter to reach a larger customer base.

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  beevis, Dec 12th, 2008 @ 1:24pm

  
  

  i leyek purrrrpull

  he heh heh somebody gimme a lighter. burn it!

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  Matthew Muro, Dec 12th, 2008 @ 1:24pm

  
  

  More Recent Examples

  They can probably look at more recent examples such as the Game Boy and any subsequent versions of Nintendo's handhelds.

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  Anonymous Coward, Dec 12th, 2008 @ 2:58pm

  
  

  Colors

  Furthermore, the success of the Mini, and continued success of the iPod, is because of many factors beyond design -- the ability to deliver more functionality at lower prices, for a start.

  No, it's all because of the colors!

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  Philip, Dec 12th, 2008 @ 3:06pm

  
  

  iMacs?

  I guess the article forgot the iMacs were the original line of Apple hardware to borne the multi-colour palette. And those colours were based off the original Apple logo.
  
  The original author isn't very acute with his own knowledge of history.

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  John, Dec 12th, 2008 @ 5:51pm

  
  

  Market to women

  I think the real genius is figuring out how to "market to women" and apply it to the rest of the market.
  
  Way-back-when, Ford introduced automatic transmissions on the Mustang "for women", yet now it's very difficult to find a manual transmission car.
  
  Someone in the electronics world thought that women like color, so now all of Apple's products come in color.
  This makes a certain amount of sense since PC's (and printers and other hardware) have usually come in two colors: gray and black. Why? Because a *man's* office doesn't need those frilly colors. Who wants a blue computer? We're men! Gray and black is all we need! And sometimes we're happy with just gray.

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  Sim Wong Hoo, Dec 13th, 2008 @ 1:57pm

  
  

  Gee, wasn't Creative Labs offering up Zen Micros in 10 different colors back when you could get your ipods in any color, as long as it was white? Just like Creative was making MP3 players years before apple even though of the ipod...

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

•  

  

  EngineerZ, Dec 15th, 2008 @ 10:05am

  
  

  Re:

  Heck, You can go a lot further back than the Zen Micro... The Regency TR-1 transistor radio, arguably the iPod of the 1950s (e.g. see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4265374.stm ), came in a variety of colors. Not to say Apple got the idea from Regency or Creative, rather it's not all that innovative of a concept. Consumer electronic manufacturers have been offering their devices in multiple colors continuously through the years. It's not a forgotten Kodak concept.

   

  [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

Add Your Comment