David Pogue on Design

I love to read David Pogue. He writes and keeps a blog on the New York Times site. He also publishes a series of books called the Missing Manual. One more reason to live him, he's a Mac guy.

His most recent post was a response to critics of his last review of the Motorola RAZR and the Samsung Blade.

His final sentence really hits at the heart of a lot of the challenges of modern technology.

In phones, as in people, looks are important — in getting your attention. But for a happy long-term relationship, it's the software design that counts.

If you can't figure out how to use it, all the power and features on your new tech toy are worthless. To me this is the challenge of technology. Making it easy to use. There is a monstrously large business opportunity in this area.

Some say the iPod succeeds because of it's good looks. Some add because of it's ease of use. Other players have these. The iPod works because it's easy from end to end. The iTunes Music Store, the sync up and the use. None of their competitors seem to have executed the whole package from end to end.