“Style, too, will become increasingly important. Just as consumers now change screensavers and buy iMac computers in a range of colors, in the future they’ll have more options when it comes to the look, feel, and functionality of high-tech products. Boyle compares it to buying a car: “Some people want a car with good gas mileage. Some want a sports car to look cool. Products have to be configured to the person using them.”

Business Week | Dennis Boyle: The Power of Smart Design | by Jane Black

Versus:

“What Steve Jobs did was decree that the Apple II was to have an aesthetic enclosure. He said we have to put this in a pretty box. We can’t sell a naked board. He was absolutely right. But what he has been doing ever since is repeat that formula. They keep the hardware up to or slightly above the standard set by PCs, but they can’t think outside the pretty box.

Q: What’s wrong with that strategy over the long haul?
A: When you sit down at the product and you start typing, you aren’t looking at the box. You’re looking at the screen. Computers are pretty much fungible at that level. If I sit at a PC or a Mac and use a familiar application, I can pretty much forget which computer I’m using. It all looks and feels the same.”

Business Week | Can Jobs “Think Outside the Pretty Box”?
[via iaslash.org]