Design crimes: APPLE!?!?!

I have to have seen at least a dozen cases/supports for the iPad. If a product is instantly followed by this many other products to support a method of use obviously not intended in the original design…isn’t that a design crime?

It depends on how you look at it. If you keep the model as simple as possible it allows for all the add ons and adaptations. But if you include that in the original design, you can never take it out. Modularity by assuming the market will pick up the slack.

I think it’s a legitimate accessory for those people who want to stand it up. That’s not me, I prefer to hold it, so I’m glad that Apple didn’t include a stand in the design (because the lack of parting lines is awesome.) I did buy the Apple branded cover, but I only use it when I’m traveling.

BTW, anyone see the latest episode of Entourage? Ari’s attorney was using an iPad with keyboard dock in a meeting, and I just had to laugh–totally impractical in comparison to a Macbook re; portability.

I don’t think it is a design crime in the case of the iPad but do think the round puck mouse they made when the candy colored imacs came out was pretty bad. I remember buying an aftermarket plastic doodad just to make the mouse feel better and allow me to orient it without looking at it. That round puck mouse made it hard to get it oriented right cause you couldn’t feel the orientation as it was close to round.

cg: Yeah, that’s another accessory that screams : OPPS! You buy an iPad, realize it’s for nothing more than reading websites. Once you try to do work, you need to buy a real keyboard and a stand. This is why I predict that sales are going to fall off and people are going to remember the iPad as a big mistake.

Unless…Apple comes up with some killer UI to allow the iPad to replace a laptop…can they?

You mean like a touchscreen/tablet Macbook Air?? Genius!

CG: I noticed that right away. So lame. That show is great for product placement crap. Cars, electronics, celeb cameos.

Why not something like the pen-based PC tablets that have been out for 3-4 years + kick-butt Apple ID (I don’t try to argue against that they have the most refined products out there). It wouldn’t be so radical, but it would be useful.

On a side note: I have now played with an iPad for five minutes or so at a local electronics store. I was very underwhelmed. I felt as though the processor wasn’t fast enough for the interface. It was far from the seamless UI that they present in the commercials. It feels very similar to the first Mac. They rushed out a product before the technology existed to really make it sing.

On the other hand, if I used cel phones, I would be all over the new iPhone. It is just so much hotter than any other smart phone I’ve seen.

From page 75 in this month’s Fast Company (“Co” for short): “Jobs primary role is to turn things down. Every day, the CEO is presented with ideas for new products and new features within existing ones. The default answer is no.”

Cases, keyboards, accessories all sound good and in fact, probably add to the experience. But on the other hand, its hard to be simple.

Why doesn’t the iPhone have a keyboard? Same reason.

Yo: not at all the same product type. The iPhone doesn’t have a keyboard because keyboards are so semi-functional at that scale. Although, it is notable that BlackBerry has held onto much of their market purely because of how difficult it is to type on an iPhone. That was inspite of many deficiencies of the BlackBerry ID and UI.

The iPad has enough real estate that they could integrate a very usable keyboard, but didn’t. Time will tell.

I think many Blackberry users (self included having had 3 Blackberry models) would disagree with you. The small keyboard on the Blackberry is super functional, but imagine the cost, weight, and size it would add to the iPhone! It would ruin it… and same for the iPad. The iPad would grow in all three of those ways with the addition of the keyboard and you just don’t need it.

It’s a bluetooth keyboard/iPad case that turns your iPad into a netbook. This photo seems to be a test version.

Here ya go:

http://www.gearzap.com/ipad-folio-with-integrated-bluetooth-keyboard-black.html

It seems to be strict dogma that a case is an add-on sale.

Anyone remember the olden days when luggage didn’t come with wheels and you had a to buy a luggage rack if you wanted to roll rather than carry? Now you hardly ever see someone with luggage that doesn’t roll on it’s own wheels.

I would like to see the same thing in electronic devices. Why can’t they all have elastomer bumpers all the way around the edge?

Most electronics consist of foil circuits on a brittle substance connected rigidly to the case and to the various ports/plugs. That’s the best we can do? When I have dropped electronic devices (I"m clumsy… i’ve dropped a lot) what kills them is usually a plain old short. Of course the real problem is probably that no one really has any incentive to make these things more durable (unplanned obsolescence).

vivavoom,

I’ve asked that question before and the answer is that cases allow consumers to add a personal touch to their mass produced products and the bigger reason is that cases are pure profit. A 5 cent silicone bumper sells for $20 or $30? That’s just plain business. Especially when an expensive, fragile, shiny new iphone starts getting smudges… how can anyone not but one?

I would say that is the design crime here, that aesthetically beautiful and potable products (laptops, iPads, iPhones) can withstand simple wear and tear of being transported around, when being portable is by definition a necessity of the product. I refuse to use a bumper, just like I don’t put a bra on my car… what is the purpose of having a rock-chip free front bumper when you have this ugly thing obscuring the entire design? What is the purpose of having a scratch free iPhone when it has this bumper obscuring it that costs money and makes it thicker?

Amen to that Yo!

I’m the same way. When I pay for good design, I want to see it.

I agree with yo to a point. The gloss plastic ipods were definitely a design crime. once they moved to aluminum for most of the products I feel they are reasonably durable. I think the new iphone is an attempt to return to the high gloss aesthetic with more scratch resistance.

The real design crime is the sharp leading edge on the unibody mbp.

I’m totally an anti-case guy too. I had a clear silicone sleeve on my ipod touch though because I liked the grippy feel of it. It was so slippery without it. Also felt better typing and using it sitting on a table instead of the crunchy grind of chrome. The gorilla glass screen on my (caseless) phone is going on 8 months and not a single scratch on it. :slight_smile: Those car bra’s always cracked me up. So friggin ugly.

I think that some consumers, especially designers can appreciate the beauty of wear and tear, whereas your everyday joe sees scratches and wear as a defect, my phone is ruined! My lawn has weeds! My wife has wrinkles! oh nos! It’s similar to planned obsolescence. Instead of becoming obsolete by style, it’s obsolete because it’s no longer perfect & pristine. (Uh oh tangent alert)