[q7xvh97o2pDhNrh]

I don't know if this is the ideal takeaway. Otherwise, we should all prioritize making our products flimsier and more expensive.

I think it's just a straightforward failure of creativity — or, even more plainly, a failure to understand their customer. They had a great product, which led to a loyal following — why not expand into adjacent markets?

The cruel irony is that their product was related to something that's extremely disposable. Why not get into the business of coffee beans? Why not partner with interesting coffee growers? Subscription businesses have been huge for decades, now — why not offer consumers the ability to buy an espresso bean subscription to go with their Mokapot, thereby generating a reliable recurring revenue stream?

A glimpse at their Wikipedia page [1] suggests they never even tried to branch out from the small, comfortable niche of cookware.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bialetti

[xcdzvyn]

> Otherwise, we should all prioritize making our products flimsier and more expensive.

It's the view of many that this is indeed what most companies prioritize — I'm not saying it's true, but it doesn't seem to be a particularly fringe opinion. It's in the vein of enshittification.

Also, might I ask how you inserted that em-dash? A keyboard shortcut? It's interesting to see fancy typography online.

[nor-and-or-not]

In macOS you can also use:

option+minus for en-dash – and shift+option+minus for em-dash —

[vladvasiliu]

This can be reproduced on Linux using the "mac" layout. "option" is "level 3 shift" on Linux.

This works on X11, I haven't tried on Wayland.

On Windows it works, too, by grabbing the "us - mac" layout and using the alt-gr for the mac's option. I think this is the layout I use: https://github.com/adunning/Mac-Keyboard-Layouts-for-Windows

[peterhadlaw]

One can look up the utf8 character for different typographical characters and copy and paste them in. On macOS at least, there is a keyboard shortcut for "emojis" (Cntl+Cmd+Space) and a little window shows up where you can search for emojis by name, and typographical characters by name (such as "em dash"). —pjh

[xcdzvyn]

> One can look up the utf8 character for different typographical characters and copy and paste them in.

Haha, yeah, that's what I usually do. But it's arduous enough for me not to bother for a HN comment. That's why I brought it up.

I love macOS' emoji picker thing, I wish there were something like it on Linux.

[js2]

Bring up the keyboard viewer widget on macOS and it will show you a live preview of what each key is... you can hold down the modifiers to see how the keys change.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-the-keyboard-vi...

Also—FWIW—an m-dash should not have whitespace on either side, at least, not in America. :-)

https://medium.com/typography/on-dashes-hyphens-and-other-im...

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/08/mind-your-en-and-em...

[butterknife]

KCharSelect on KDE Plasma is a good alternative on Linux.

[cwillu]

WinCompose is wonderfully intuitive for those on operating systems without one included stock.

[mdekkers]

Here in Italy, Bialetti have nice outlets, much like Le Creuset does. The one in my town often has quite a few people in.

[piaste]

> I don't know if this is the ideal takeaway. Otherwise, we should all prioritize making our products flimsier and more expensive.

That's an "is-ought" gap if I've ever seen one, sadly.

[quags]

Brand protection may be one reason. Branding with a supplier who messes up in the coffee bean arena would hurt their reputation. Some business will throw ideas out and see what fits and maybe get a second really good product. Getting another product and being successful is hard enough which is why you see larger companies buying out others. It’s easier to buy and get a successful product from and existing than branching out and hitting another success.