Gadget gurus: Adding features don't complement utility
What is clear, though, is that in the race to differentiate themselves in a crowded market, manufacturers are taking a cue from mobile phone makers.
By ET Bureau | Updated:
In a world that increasingly demands multi-tasking from its human population, the very idea of the line between gadgets blurring is alarming. The launch of a musical refrigerator raises the inevitable question of how it is expected to enhance the living experience of a potential owner. And what comes next?
A television that cooks, a microwave that irons or a washing machine that wards off mosquitoes? Advertisements already aver that there is nothing unusual about cars that morph into spas and airconditioners that mutate into superheroes.
Those, of course, can be attributed to artistic licence: the commercials simply convey an adding of allure to what are basically mundane jobs like commuting and cooling. If they were to do that in actual fact they would probably end up spooking potential buyers. What is clear, though, is that in the race to differentiate themselves in a crowded market, manufacturers are taking a cue from mobile phone makers.
After all, what began as communication gadgets now function as watches, GPS, music players and Net access devices. Crucially, they have taken over activities that were once the preserve of the human brain like remembering important appointments and making simple arithmetic calculations.
So, the loss of a mobile phone these days is akin to getting temporary amnesia, leaving bereft owners with feelings of being set adrift in a sea of numberless, if not nameless, faces without the lifejacket of a SIM backup. Cleverly lulling the human brain into ceding ground is the reason for the mobile phone’s success.
Therefore, adding features that do not directly complement the needs of a user of the primary utility of a gadget, for a refrigerator, its cooling and preserving ability, can have but limited appeal.
A television that cooks, a microwave that irons or a washing machine that wards off mosquitoes? Advertisements already aver that there is nothing unusual about cars that morph into spas and airconditioners that mutate into superheroes.
Those, of course, can be attributed to artistic licence: the commercials simply convey an adding of allure to what are basically mundane jobs like commuting and cooling. If they were to do that in actual fact they would probably end up spooking potential buyers. What is clear, though, is that in the race to differentiate themselves in a crowded market, manufacturers are taking a cue from mobile phone makers.
After all, what began as communication gadgets now function as watches, GPS, music players and Net access devices. Crucially, they have taken over activities that were once the preserve of the human brain like remembering important appointments and making simple arithmetic calculations.
So, the loss of a mobile phone these days is akin to getting temporary amnesia, leaving bereft owners with feelings of being set adrift in a sea of numberless, if not nameless, faces without the lifejacket of a SIM backup. Cleverly lulling the human brain into ceding ground is the reason for the mobile phone’s success.
Therefore, adding features that do not directly complement the needs of a user of the primary utility of a gadget, for a refrigerator, its cooling and preserving ability, can have but limited appeal.
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