Interesting article over at FastCompany that I generally agree with. The author talks about how cars (GM), food (Kraft), and even online websites don’t seem all that innovative.

Why is so much of the consumer economy so boring? In large part, marketers talk about creating a culture of innovation, but then either isolate the truly original ideas, Guantanamo-style, or subject them to death-by-PowerPoint and death by research.

I recently read some car history that mentioned the “glory days” of General Motors decades ago - when a new car was introduced every year as an eagerly-anticipated event - the “innovation” of style obsolescence.

Today, I’m actually hard pressed to think of any American products that I admire other than Apple’s (which although designed here, are built overseas). Most of the physical products I enjoy are designed in Asia or Europe - Sony, Samsung, Nokia, IKEA - and if a product is designed by an American company, most likely it’s still made overseas.

I think the Apple iPhone hype demonstrates that people will always want to buy products that fill a specific need expertly and exhibit a high level of quality and thought in regards to their design. This sounds obvious and not very difficult, but a lot of products out there don’t really meet this criteria. I assume most products are built to apart after a few years, will be difficult to use properly, and don’t function as well as they claim to. Many products’ shortcomings seem to be covered up by marketing.

Here’s a quote from an editorial in The San Mateo Daily Journal about ink jet printers:

The technician told me I needed to buy a new printer. But my printer is just two years old, I said. Time to buy a new printer, he responded… I am unwinding by writing a column about cartridges which last only a few months and printers which last only a few years. I haven’t seen much buzz about that… I guess I am an old-fashioned depression baby who has trouble adjusting to the fact that fancy, complex, expensive new equipment has a shelf life less than a can of peas. Steve Jobs, please invent something that will last a lifetime. If that is not possible, what about 10 to 20 years?

Maybe it’s because many companies are crippled by bureaucracy and keeping their products as cheap as possible than the products they’re creating. But whatever the reason, a lot of companies could do a heck of a lot better. It’s not too hard for Apple to leap over the bar when it’s down by our ankles.

Still, it seems we still produce tons of entertainment, creative ideas, and web Internet stuff. Also, I do see some companies thinking of original ways to get around old thinking:

• Crest had a contest asking users to help choose a new toothpaste flavor.
• This Doritos “name the flavor” chip thing is appealing to me in the same way.
• WIRED recently had a customized issue of their magazine with individual subscriber’s faces on it.
• JPG magazine is trying something new where the website drives their print version.
• ReadyMade and MAKE magazine help people look at the stuff they buy in a new light, either to reuse objects or hack them into new ones.
• I’ve seen some stuff going on at the CNN and USAToday websites (incorporating Web 2.0 ideas) that’s fairly interesting.
• There’s the electric Tesla roadster which is American designed by a Silicon Valley company.

In a sense, some companies are using their customers to help them with product development - showing how “user created content” and hacking concepts can be applied to physical products by companies that have little to do with the Internet.

Disclosure: I own a tiny amount of Apple stock.

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