[AdamJacobMuller]

> “As we started to update our branding we did a lot of focus group studies with many different types of consumers,” he tells The Verge, “and none of those people understood the messaging and the branding, and they don’t understand revision control or spec names.”

You didn't need a focus group to tell you this (though I'm glad they did one). Just look at every single comment thread on HN about USB branding, at this point it's a meme.

[WorldMaker]

USB-IF is a forum of so many different companies the focus group probably was needed for CYA finger pointing if no other reason. If this branding doesn't work out they can blame a bad focus group and convene a new one rather than war among themselves.

[laundermaf]

Given the terrible product naming[1] most hardware companies[2] have, at this point I’ve just come to the conclusion that most people in command don’t have any idea of how other people behave and reason.

[1]: Sony WF-1000XM3 are AirPods competitors, but you’d never tell your friends about your Sony WF-1000XM3

[2]: Except Apple and a handful others

[Macha]

Sometimes I wonder if that's intentional. You won't suggest the WF-1000XM3, so you recommend "the Sony ones", and your friend goes to their preferred store where the XM3 is unavailable/out of stock and just orders some lower quality/older generation Sony ones rather than a competitor

[vessel]

But then that friend hates his earbuds and tells everyone how much Sony products suck. So in the end it hurts the brand. That's why having a small set of quality products with good names is best.

[SamReidHughes]

Sony has done a better job with other lines -- with Walkman, Discman, Vaio [Letter], PlayStation, Alpha, Aibo, and such. When they have a huge array of products, as with cameras or headphones, they soon become unnameable. They do have a set of headphone models called "LinkBuds" now, though. So they're not as clueless as you think.

[laundermaf]

> So they're not as clueless as you think.

One point for you, 34 for me:

https://electronics.sony.com/audio/headphones/c/all-headphon...

They still look pretty clueless to me.

[notatoad]

if you're making design decisions based on HN comment threads instead of proper focus groups, you're going to end up with a very weird product.