Some imperfections in technological products are deliberately made. The company may wants to reduce cost or to classify its products.
Ford Pinto is a subcompact car manufactured in 1970s by Ford Motor Company. The company knew that there is a fatal imperfection in the gas tank in Pinto, but still chose to put this imperfect model into mass production. This reminds me of the iPod Touch I own. I bought it in my senior high. I thought it was like an iPhone without voice call and text message features. I was pretty satisfied with this thin little model with which I can play music and videos, surf the Internet, take photos, and play tons of games until the day I found some imperfections about my iPod Touch.
iPod Touch does not have the option to display remaining battery in percentage, which was a tiny but must-check feature of iPhone. I could not understand it at that time. Apple has already made it in iPhone, so it must not be hard to implement it in iPod Touch which runs exactly the same operating system. Besides, iPhone performs way better than iPod touch. Testing models released in the same year, iPhone takes literally no time to launch the 'Settings' app, while iPod Touch takes more than 2 seconds.
I asked my friend, a huge fan of Apple's products, about what I found. His answer is, to me, mind-blowing and reasonable: Apple use processor used in previous year's iPhone in this year's iPod Touch, which makes iPod Touch obviously generally less superior to iPhone; and what about no percentage battery display? Pay less, get less! Apple definitely knows how to make it on iPod Touch but they did not do it just in order to make it less superior to iPhone.
Imperfection happens everywhere in technological products: Sony knows how to make the best dynamic headphones in the world, but they always release the flagship model accompanied by several less superior models in the same series; Trek knows how to make the most sustainable and fashionable bicycle, but they always release some ordinary bicycles with less features the same time as the coldest one; Nike knows how to design the basketball shoes that features all their outstanding technologies in one, but in fact they have never done so. Shoes with the best support package never comes out together with the best shock absorption system.
Why they never make an overall ultimately best product with all the technologies they could take advantage from? I guess there are two reasons mainly:
1. Company wants to reduce cost. Some seemingly tiny shortcomings may reduce their cost in a considerable amount. The iPod Touch I mentioned, for example, can runs all the apps that iPhone can run, only a little bit slower in loading because of its less superior processor. But the processor used in iPod Touch, which is the same as the one used in previous year's iPhone, cost less than half of the previous year's.
2. Company wants to classify its product. With a great gather of wisdom and technology, and money of course, a company may release its outstanding flagship product in a high price. People who do not have that much money but still willing to cop it may not afford it. Releasing less superior product, company can earn profit from selling them to poorer people, and poorer people will have the chance to experience latest technology and the happiness it brings.
Ford, as an example, wanted to reduce cost by not applying their latest, best gas tank on Pinto. That was, in my opinion, pretty reasonable and acceptable. But, Ford reduced their cost at the cost of hundreds of death. That was definitely a different, intolerable case.
1. Company wants to reduce cost. Some seemingly tiny shortcomings may reduce their cost in a considerable amount. The iPod Touch I mentioned, for example, can runs all the apps that iPhone can run, only a little bit slower in loading because of its less superior processor. But the processor used in iPod Touch, which is the same as the one used in previous year's iPhone, cost less than half of the previous year's.
2. Company wants to classify its product. With a great gather of wisdom and technology, and money of course, a company may release its outstanding flagship product in a high price. People who do not have that much money but still willing to cop it may not afford it. Releasing less superior product, company can earn profit from selling them to poorer people, and poorer people will have the chance to experience latest technology and the happiness it brings.
Ford, as an example, wanted to reduce cost by not applying their latest, best gas tank on Pinto. That was, in my opinion, pretty reasonable and acceptable. But, Ford reduced their cost at the cost of hundreds of death. That was definitely a different, intolerable case.
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