Apple to crack the living-room conundrum?

Apple's 2005 Challenge: Surpass the iPod (Andreas Pfeiffer, Technology - Ziff Davis, 29/12/04)

"[Apple] owes its biggest successes to the capacity of spotting an emerging need and then delivering a superior product to cover it. (And conversely, Apple's failures often can be traced back to its incapacity to act like the "normal" technology provider.)

In particular, Apple manages to succeed in one area where most technology-centric companies (and Microsoft in particular) almost systematically fail: in making products desirable.

Logical reasoning may govern mainstream PC purchases, but truly remarkable successes in the market are founded on objects so desirable that they defy reasoning. Sure, the iPod is pricey, but millions of consumers want one anyway.

The mistake many technology companies make when it comes to product strategies is that they attack the problem from the technology side. This does not work in the consumer market, because Joe and Jane Average don't buy technology. They are generally not interested in technology for its own sake, nor do they want to find out more about it.

Truly successful products do not start from the technology, but from the problem they want to solve."

I really like the idea of a media centre/digital hub, which works as it should 100% of the time and can sit comfortably in a living room. Microsoft has been trying to provide one, but without much success. I think Pfeiffer's criticism of Microsoft (and technology companies in generally) is spot on. They generally adopt the same approach to making consumer products as they use in making computers. I hope Apple can do a better job, and soon.