UI&us is about User Interface Design, User Experience design and the cognitive psychology behind design in general. It's written by Keith Lang, co-founder of Skitch; now a part of Evernote.  His views and opinions are his own and do not represent in any way the views or opinions of any company. 

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Wednesday
Jan072009

The Factor of Form

I came across The top 25 Biggest Product Flops article today via the excellent Sensory Metrics.

Which included this page on the Apple Newton, which was a distant echo of the iPhone to come.



 

One of the factors of it's downfall is listed its 'bulkiness'. Inspired by the current Macworld exhibition, I looked over some older Apple Keynotes. I noticed how important the form factor seems to be to Steve Jobs in his demos, and how the market seemed to echo this belief.

Here in the 1999 Macworld Keynotes, Jobs introduces Firewire. 

The finale has him showing off the soon-to-come portable hard drives that fit in his jeans pocket.

 



 

In 2001, the iPod was first released. Again, the same pocket demonstration. (And repeated later with the introduction of the nano)



 

And once again, with the iPhone introduction.

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