Things I don’t understand pt. 4

When I was looking for an mp3 player I made the following observation.
Why don’t companies learn from Apple? Or any marketing/engineering/writing handbook for that matter: KISS.

iPods are solid products with marvellous mechanical build quality. There were however a few reasons I wanted something else: no FM radio, no possibility to add memory, quite expensive, plus everyone has one.
Creative has some cool products, but check out their website… They list a million models, old and new. And this is where they should learn from Apple: Apple has a very simple line-up. A few models, updated every year. And when there’s an update, the old models simply disappear. Not at Creative: they keep listing years-old models, making the choice very difficult.
So I opted for Sansa: cheap and cheerful. The build quality is quite toy-like, and there are even dust particles behind the screen, but it does everything I want it to do, and sounds great. (Never mind the battery is not user-replaceable, I was forced to install Windows Media Player/it doesn’t work with iTunes, and the video converter software is 100 meg (not supplied on CD) and doesn’t work.) And check out their site: a simple lineup with only a few models: one simple and small audio player, one larger video player, and one in between.

(Same when I researched a netbook. Apart from Apple, most computer makers’ line-up is completely incomprehensible, with different alphanumerical codes for models that look exactly alike.)

And what’s with Amazon? Why is EVERY COLOR of a device listed as a different model? Can you imagine Toyota’s website listing every color of their Corolla as a separate model?