Simplicity is a popular topic these days. But other than being cool, what are some reasons you should put more effort into simplifying your software? Because simple sells. Here are some examples:
iPhone
Perhaps the best known case of taking something that was complex and providing a simple alternative. Nearly everyone has a cell phone. Nearly everyone hates their cell phone. Apple took a step back and created a phone that anyone can use. In fact, when they were first released we stopped at an AT&T store to check them out. My daughter, who was 5 years old at the time, was able to pick up the iPhone take pictures, play music and make a call without us showing her how. She certainly can’t do that on my Samsung cell phone.
Sure, Apple took a bit of flak for the iPhone not having all the features that some expected for a smart phone. But it had enough and the lack of features certainly didn’t hurt sales.
Sudoku
I love Sudoku. It’s really simple to learn. You can explain the rules in less than a minute. It became a phenomenon precisely because of this.
iPhoto
I’ve convinced more people to get a Mac by showing them iPhoto than any other reason. People love taking pictures. iPhoto makes it simple to manage your pictures. And it eliminates any fear of editing your pictures because you can always go back to the original with just a single click.
Time Machine
In Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Apple again took on something that people find too annoying and complex to bother with: backups. Obviously everyone understands the benefits of backups, but most people still didn’t do them. Now with Time Machine, you don’t have to worry about anything. Just plug in an external drive and OS X takes care of the rest. Sure, Time Machine doesn’t have every feature that a backup app could have, but it has enough and is easy. Thus people are using it. It is a major selling point for Leopard.
Wii
I particularly like this example. Nintendo took what many thought was quite a risk by releasing the Wii: a game system that was much less powerful than either the XBox360 or the Playstation 3. In the end, Nintendo was proven right. They reasoned that most people wanted to have a game system that was fun and approachable more than one that was incredibly realistic and complex. I would agree.
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