A very interesting article from six years ago called “Why features don’t matter anymore: The new laws of digital technology.” This was written when the original iPod was coming into its own, long before the iPhone and iPad (and iPod Touch).
Some insightful observations that are even more true today:
1) More features isn’t better, it’s worse.
Feature overload is becoming a real issue. The last thing a customer wants is confusion-and what’s more confusing than comparing technical specifications, unless you are en expert? Only nerds get a kick out of reading feature lists. (I know – I’m one of them.)
2) You can’t make things easier by adding to them.
Simplicity means getting something done in a minimum number of simple steps. Practically anything could be simpler – but you don’t get there by adding features.
3) Confusion is the ultimate deal-breaker.
Confuse a customer, and you lose him. And nothing confuses more easily than complex features and unintuitive functionalities.
There’s more to the list, which I really encourage you to read and think about.
Via Apple Outsider.
