The Perfect Post

The article "The Perfect Thing" by Steven Levy is an interesting overview of the technological design business. Fadell's experiences with the electronics business, along with his trials with the model iPod shows the whole "guess-and-check"-like process. He moved from company to company in order to find somewhere that worked for him. It was the same thing for the model iPod. He had to continously try to figure out how to be innovative, yet functional. Due to the other failures on the market, Fadell was able to learn from the mistakes or setbacks of the other products.

As for the factors for creating and evaluating the "perfect thing" would be to follow the pathway that Fadell took. This is, to research the rest of the products on the markets, look at the drawbacks, find a way to improve them, and ultimately make them better while adding something new. It sounds difficult, but that is what separates the "men from the boys" metaphorically. The factors for evalauting success with a MP3 player would be size/shape/mobility, storage, ease of use in terms of the interface and the programming software, sound quality, price, battery life, and overall popularity in terms of advertisement. Since Ipod was able to figure out how to manipulate this formula, the product was successful.

While reviewing the Apple iPod, it seems like a pretty reliable product. Apple created a variety of music players, allowing consumers a choice of products in terms of price and storage. The iPods range from the iPod Shuffle, only storing up to 512 MB, to the iPod Classic 160 GB. The interactive interface is easy to use, allowing consumers of all ages to enjoy. The video quality on the iPod is better than most, with access to television shows and music videos from iTunes. In terms of drawbacks, most criticism is directed towards the battery life, durability, and popularity in theft. The iPod commercials advertised fourteen hours for playback time, but in reality, the battery lasted on average around eight hours. For the issue of durability, iPods are actually very frail. After being dropped once, the screen will most likely crack, or leave horrid digital crack. The "digital crack" is when there is no physical damage to the product, yet the screen is cracked, causing a complete hassle when trying to find music. In terms of theft, there was a season of iPod stealing. Around 2005 or2006, there was a rash of theft in the New York area. At the height of iPod sales, people were getting mugged left and right. Thieves were spotting out the infamous white headphones and targeting their prey respectively. Although iPods are the highest selling digital audio player, Microsoft Zunes are still better.