I think the author of this article is being deliberately obtuse and missing the point of the usability study. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was once asked wh

I think the author of this article is being deliberately obtuse and missing the point of the usability study. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was once asked what market research went into the creation of the iPad. "None," Jobs replied, in one of his most celebrated quotes. "It's not the consumers' job to know what they want." Market research is not the same thing as usability testing. It doesn't help to conflate the two. There's a major difference between the eschewing market research vs producing a product that your customers are confused by when you put it in front of them because you de-prioritized usability. That's why the notion that users should be able to grasp the new Windows interface right away is a recipe for incrementalism. Not at all. The iPhone user interface was far from incremental. In fact, it broke many of the traditional UI paradigms found on phones and computers before its release. That doesn't take away from the fact that it was eminently intuitive, discoverable, and usable. Then again, Nielsen's research and analysis led him to pan the iPad's usability when it debuted two years ago, noting inconsistencies in the way different apps work. Of course, that didn't stop consumers from snapping up the device in eye-popping numbers. The iPad study pointed out inconsistencies and usability flaws in third party apps, not the stock OS, many of which have been improved since. The study was focusing on usability, not making a value judgment on the iPad's potential for success.