[jonknee]

The difference being very few (if any) people bought the Wii for the remote looks. Changing its appearance was immaterial to the product. The iPhone is a stylish luxury good very much marketed based on its high-end industrial design and you can't get away with changing its looks after the fact and saving face.

[eevo]

You have a point, but what really matters to iPhone and Wii users is how they look/how they'll feel when using said product. If the Wii was essentially a $150 xbox I don't think it would have appealed to its intended audience nearly as well. I agree that aesthetics aren't as important to the Wii as the iPhone, but the solution to the iPhone issue (at least, the case; not the duct tape) is less ugly/cumbersome.