Bad Designs May After All be Good
by Sihlangu Tshuma
In the past week, my attention was drawn to reports on defective product design. Some of these were initially touted to have the potential to permanently alter how we go about doing the things we do. Even more importantly, these products were from companies of international acclaim such as Blackberry. By the end of the week, I had come to a conclusion that bad products could after all be good for the overall business. What am I trying to say?
Let’s consider for example, the Blackberry case. I have in my possession a Blackberry Storm and I do not have to read the reviews about what other users say. I just happen to know from firsthand experience that it is one mobile phone project gone badly. The announcement that Research In Motion has just developed its latest innovation the BlackBerry Torch, which is envisaged to stand toe to toe with the iphone, further enhances my assertion. Although I did not expect a bare bones confession from Blackberry, I consider the latest project as a recompense for the Storm fiasco. The Blackberry Storm project in my hands right now is just one complete failure, yet the advent of the Torch has awakened my love for the Blackberry. I am eagerly waiting to see how the new version will atone for the Storm. In a way I can see how my disappointment with the Storm has leveraged my excitement for the new model. This is in a way that no advertising campaign could have achieved.
Apple may seem invincible to bad design, yet I am afraid they are not immune. The i-phone 4 antenna woes are beginning to die down. What seemed to be a mess has left apple with a substantial publicity mileage which none of their crisp campaigns could achieve. I know that very well because it was able to capture the attention of the most technophobic like my wife.
I know full well that Public Relations is not a precise science. The ramifications of product recalls are too ghastly to be contemplated, yet my anecdotal experience points to unprecedented gains at the back of such mishaps. Consider the amount of free product placement in the news of Toyota recall for accelerator problems. My anecdotal take in all this is that Toyota will have the last laugh.
