AfterDawn: Tech news

CES 2008: Manufacturers criticized over design and marketing decisions

Written by Rich Fiscus @ 09 Jan 2008 3:00 User comments (5)

CES 2008: Manufacturers criticized over design and marketing decisions According to Allen Delattre, Global Managing Director of management consulting firm Accenture, consumer problems operating new devices costs retailers nearly $14 billion a year in the U.S. alone.
In an interview on Tuesday he said consumers often return the devices believing they don't work correctly even though in many cases it's simply a case of a difficulties figuring out how to operate new gadgets or misunderstand how they work.

While most companies at the Consumer Electronics Show are concentrating on individual products, Delattre is focused on the overal design, manufacture, and packaging process, which he believes nees a major overhaul. "The cost to return on one computer deletes the margin of two others they sell," he said.

The cost comes in the form of labor to test devices and get them back on store shelves for resale and the reduced margins for the returned goods.

Source: Reuters

Previous Next  

5 user comments

19.1.2008 03:37

Looking at the 360 poor design and manufacturing is a huge issue its one thing to to build design for a good plant but these cheap ones can bring with them so many issues.

The manufactures need to ease off the whole bottom line before quality bit.......

29.1.2008 13:23

i agree with ZippyDSM cuz companies should design products that last, that's why i never buy just released products and wait for some reviews to come out.


Samsung screwed upa friend with a camera that uses 2 AA and lasts only half an hour .... he had to return it and i guess the retail store lost money on that model , the 360 also was a big failure and there are some premium packages around over some online retailers the first series .. be aware..

39.1.2008 15:31

What the manufacturers need to do is better educate their customer line. I can probably walk down the street and ask 10 random people about HDTVs and I bet only about 3 would be able to tell me all the details about resolution, hookups, LCD vs Plasma, etc.

49.1.2008 17:28

Originally posted by maryjayne:
What the manufacturers need to do is better educate their customer line. I can probably walk down the street and ask 10 random people about HDTVs and I bet only about 3 would be able to tell me all the details about resolution, hookups, LCD vs Plasma, etc.
maryjane, I agree 100% with you.

However, on the flip side, technology is increasing so quickly, that it is hard for the standard person to keep up without going to a well informed forum/community, such as Afterdawn. Not to mention that every product now want to do everything.

A good example is a MP3 player. While we more tech-savvy love the fact that MP3 players, play MP3, movies, display pictures, and play the radio (My Sansa is awesome), most nontech-savvy people just use it for a MP3 player. Most of the time it is because they other 1000 functions are useless to them or it is too hard for them to access, use, and/or understand those functions. The Sansa is great for drag and dropping music but if you want to put on video or pics you have to install an application to convert them.

Honestly, how many actually use all of the functions in those multi-function devices? Heck, I sometimes even wonder if they know the functions exsist on the device to begin with.

510.1.2008 18:59

Quote:
In an interview on Tuesday he said consumers often return the devices believing they don't work correctly even though in many cases it's simply a case of a difficulties figuring out how to operate new gadgets or misunderstand how they work.
This is the issue right here, if they learn how to simplyfy the product so the consumer can just know how to use it like a plug and play device i dont see the problem here.

However they do not do this and leave it complicated and they make the instructions hard to follow therefore people have problems with it.

Remember this Rule:

KISS

Keep
It
Simple
Stupid :)

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads (16 Mar 2024 4:31)
VLC Media Player, the versatile video-software powerhouse, has achieved a remarkable feat: it has been downloaded over 5 billion times.
2 user comments
Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit (19 Dec 2023 11:09)
Google settled its lawsuit in September 2023, and one of the settlement terms was that the way applications are installed on Android from outside the Google Play Store must become simpler. In the future, installing APK files will be easier.
8 user comments
Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments

News archive