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The good news is the vision of mass-customized electronics is a huge deal. The bad news is, Apple proved it in 2007-2008 with the iPhone + App Store. The point
by jkestner 12y ago
The good news is the vision of mass-customized electronics is a huge deal. The bad news is, Apple proved it in 2007-2008 with the iPhone + App Store.
The points that you could've focused on a specific object are good. It would've made you think like your intended customer, the designer. You would've been forced to answer the question "Who wants this?" instead of planning layers of abstraction.
You should've taken a smaller slice not only so that a small team could execute it well, but also to make the concept much more graspable to customers. That's the true brilliance of the App Store.
- pjc50 12y ago? The iPhone is less customisable hardware than the old Nokia candy bar phones.
- jkestner 12y agoThe customization people actually want is met by the software layer. With a responsive touch screen and apps, you can satisfactorily reproduce physical interfaces, and more importantly, their functions.
- pjc50 12y agoPeople expect total plasticity of software. But that cannot satisfactorily reproduce all physical interfaces - people cannot operate a touchscreen without looking at it. Despite this they seem to be becoming popular in cars where they cannot be safely operated by the driver. The rise of smartwatches suggests that people want another kind of interface. The complaints over screen size are another aspect. You can't have a screen that's both small (easily carried) and large (easily read) at the same time. Finally there's an aesthetic argument. People like the appearance and heft of twiddly knobs and clicky buttons. This is why Roberts DAB radios are so popular. People customise the external appearance of their featureless iPhones with flip or shell cases. People like to be visibly a bit different.