Core77

iWant, therefore iComplain

By Rain Noe - October 29, 2007

in Object Culture

Maybe we're crazy, but we think the following might contain a lesson for product designers vis-a-vis human desire. Apple is widely recognized as selling people easy-to-use products that they actually want, but these products are often attacked relentlessly in forums and online chatter. Did you ever notice that when people criticize Apple products, it often starts "I love the [iGadget] but..."? Seems to us people never used to complain about products in this way. Our theory is that when you give people what they want, they actually complain more than they did when they were simply putting up with whatever was doled out to them. It's kind of like you're in the Soviet Union circa 1985 standing in line for 220-grit toilet paper, then you get whisked to a 2007 supermarket where there's aisles upon aisles of soft, fluffy Charmin, and suddenly you want the Jumbo roll so you don't have to replace it as often, and you want a coupon to pay for it. Anyone have any thoughts as to why this might be? Bueller, anyone? Oh, and the article that prompted this entry: PC World quibbling about OSX Leopard, which came out last week. Predictably, the article starts with "First, a disclaimer: I like Leopard...but...."

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_

17 years ago

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I hate PC users. And I have to use one at work.
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Ben

17 years ago

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Apple has always engendered that particular form of complaint from its users. People who bitch about Windows never start their complaints with "Don't get me wrong, I mostly really love Vista, but...". People who follow and care about Apple have a different attitude towards the company and their products than do almost any other group of consumers. It belies a classic fanboy attitude, like you might see on some indie rock band's website forums. ("I mean of course I LOVE the latest album, but...").

With respect to how it affects the usage model of the software/hardware, it's just the usual nitpicking about whatever features irk people. But you're right, in that people wouldn't bother complaining if they didn't generally assume perfection.
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John Moerner

17 years ago

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Well... must not have any marketing knowledge there have we... This kind of feedback is what DRIVES the innovation. The majority of companies who try to get this kind of feedback are paying agencies WAY to much money to tell them what the people want (read, usually wrong), instead of getting it from the people. A great example would be Apple, dropped the price of the iphone, opened the source code for it... need way say more... Bueller...
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Raymond

17 years ago

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My beef isn't with Apple. I think their products are great. My beef when I start a sentence, "I love the iPod but..." always leads to, "I hate all of the mind-numbingly bad copycats of the iPod." I think almost every product designer alive understands why that is!
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Bill I

17 years ago

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I think this brand of complaining stems from these gadgets meetings MOST of your expectations.

For example, if you have an object that only meets 50% of your expectations, your gripes are more general and you don't feel the need to defend the device as you complain. On the other hand, if you have an object that meets 95% of your expectations, your gripes will be more specific. However, because the device lives up to almost all your expectations, you feel the need to defend it while you complain.

Alternatively, it could be a mild form of denial, but I'd like to think I complain about my iPhone this way because it truly does meet 95% of my expectations, and not because "I spent $500 on it and damn it I'm gonna like it."
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m@

17 years ago

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I've noticed this too and, though I think it's a number of issues combined, it could be due to the pervasive acceptance (even by PC folk... admit it) that Windows is quirky and dare I say "flawed". However, OSX is sort-of touted as the OS savior and therefore, we subconsciously expect it to be perfect. This is, of course, impossible so we complain more about the shortcomings, whereas with windows, it's just "oh hey, this is a bit better than before..." and that's that.

Humanity in general has a deep-seated need to complain about what it loves. I call this factor "Brittany Spears". Public Demand created and sustains her, and in turn, she feeds our schadenfreude. Her Window's equivalent is her sister, Jaime Lynn, from whom no one expects a thing and therefore we don't complain.
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akatsuki

17 years ago

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Perhaps because they often get it so close, so the little things bother you more?
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Reid Draper

17 years ago

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There is an interesting book called "The Paradox of Choice" by Barry Schwartz that is about this phenomenon. Check out this video of him giving a talk at TED:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/93
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