4 ms·

I think at some point people started coming up with a theory that "the reason all the hardware products fail is because they're not seen as 'cool'. Look at Goog

I think at some point people started coming up with a theory that "the reason all the hardware products fail is because they're not seen as 'cool'. Look at Google Glass. People didn't use it because it's not cool", and the tech people started believing their own theory, and this is what we have. Apple thought being fashionable was core to success with their Watch. Snapchat (I refuse to call them by the name "the company that makes snapchat") thought giving the illusion of being "cool" is what would make it succeed. No. Hardware products succeed if they provide actual benefit that leapfrogs anything else that existed before them. Being "cool" is just a gimmick to get initial buzz but unless you have a product worthy of it, it will die off, and that's worse than not even having buzz to start with. Don't try to fake cool and just build a damn good product that actually solves a problem.

brianwawok 10y ago
Why do beats headphones sell for $300 despite having sound quality equal to $50 headphones? Clearly cool does some things in some hardware markets. I guess you can argue that they make people pay more for an already useful product vs buy the product at all..
- AtheistPUA 10y ago
  Actually, Beats by Dre have superb sound quality on par with competing headphones in the same price range and above, even. The reason many people complain is because they make the mistake of attempting to listen to genres such as Rock N' Roll, Indie Music, Punk, etc. when the product is clearly advertised as "The Hip Hopper's Head Phone". The sound profile simply isn't synchronized with the waves associated with those genres, so it's no wonder that the listening experience is unpleasant.
- cocktailpeanuts 10y ago
  > I guess you can argue that they make people pay more for an already useful product vs buy the product at all.. Yes this was my point. "Cool" is something that accelerates buying behavior, not something that you should rely on as main driving factor. Headphone market already exists. People buy headphones to listen to music. So headphone companies can charge more for "cool" headphones. But smart watch market didn't exist as a mainstream market. And creepy hidden camera glasses market didn't exist as a mainstream market.
saurik 10y ago
> I refuse to call them by the name "the company that makes snapchat" Renaming from "Snapchat, Inc." to "Snap, Inc." isn't quite like "the artist formerly known as Prince": I feel like everyone would recognize who you mean if you said "Snap" with even minimal context, and it doesn't really seem that wrong to continue saying "Snapchat" (it certainly doesn't seem as awkward to me as the Google/Alphabet reorganization).

brianwawok 10y ago

Why do beats headphones sell for $300 despite having sound quality equal to $50 headphones? Clearly cool does some things in some hardware markets. I guess you can argue that they make people pay more for an already useful product vs buy the product at all..

AtheistPUA 10y ago
Actually, Beats by Dre have superb sound quality on par with competing headphones in the same price range and above, even. The reason many people complain is because they make the mistake of attempting to listen to genres such as Rock N' Roll, Indie Music, Punk, etc. when the product is clearly advertised as "The Hip Hopper's Head Phone". The sound profile simply isn't synchronized with the waves associated with those genres, so it's no wonder that the listening experience is unpleasant.
cocktailpeanuts 10y ago
> I guess you can argue that they make people pay more for an already useful product vs buy the product at all.. Yes this was my point. "Cool" is something that accelerates buying behavior, not something that you should rely on as main driving factor. Headphone market already exists. People buy headphones to listen to music. So headphone companies can charge more for "cool" headphones. But smart watch market didn't exist as a mainstream market. And creepy hidden camera glasses market didn't exist as a mainstream market.

saurik 10y ago

> I refuse to call them by the name "the company that makes snapchat" Renaming from "Snapchat, Inc." to "Snap, Inc." isn't quite like "the artist formerly known as Prince": I feel like everyone would recognize who you mean if you said "Snap" with even minimal context, and it doesn't really seem that wrong to continue saying "Snapchat" (it certainly doesn't seem as awkward to me as the Google/Alphabet reorganization).