While we’re having a vigorous debate about iPhone vs. Windows, let me toss this tangent in:
I’m sitting here with a 3GHz 4GB quad-core dual-head Dell PC, only slightly behind the bleeding edge of the desktop PC experience. I’m listening to music via Windows Media Player.
Two issues leap out:
1. The darn thing SKIPS/STUTTERS every few seconds! WTH?
2. To avoid blowing my eardrums out via normal headphones, the volume is set to about 1% of maximum. 1%!
This is among the simplest of modern applications: playing MP3 music thru headphones - yet MS can’t even get that right! Stuttering? Ear-shattering default volume? C’mon MS, _get_it_right_already_!
Funny, my iPod & MacBook gets it right. Hit “play” and everything works the way I expect.
Attention to detail. Little things make/break the user experience. Make it, they’ll buy more; break it, they’ll go elsewhere.
You said — Attention to detail.
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Steve Jobs is famous for that, and is the “terror of Apple” in that regard... has a lot of employees quaking in their boots because of it... :-)
But, he seems to know when that detail is important and essential and “it works” as you say...