[tyohn]

"CEO, or the design director, or someone with a huge amount of power at Heinz should personally use every one of its products for some arbitrary amount of time before it is approved to be sold."

Do you really think the CEO doesn't use Heinz Ketchup in the new bottle? I love the new bottle! It has never "jammed" up for me and its a huge improvement over the glass bottle. I guess you should use those tiny ketchup packets if you're having a problem with getting ketchup out of the bottles. Did you know that Heinz is in the process or might have already released a bottle that doesn't let that "watery ketchup" come out when you first use it. It was their number one complaint from ketchup users. That's customer focused innovation!

I know that your an Apple fan boy but believe it or not - not "everything Apple" is god-like in fact I find the iPod Nano lacking and it was the first product I ever bought from Apple.

Getting back to the Heinz ketchup bottle - I eagerly await your better re-design...

[dcurtis]

I was referring to the bottle that has liquid-reduction technology you are talking about. There appears to be some mechanism that only lets the viscous liquid through, but it keeps jamming and preventing anything from coming through. Not a big deal, but still annoying.

I respect Apple as a company. Making the assumption that I would blindly follow every move Apple makes just because I mention Steve Jobs is a good CEO is a low attack and also incorrect. Why are you attacking me personally?

[tyohn]

Sorry if my comment came across as attacking you. I was trying to state that your "attack" on Heinz and it's CEO.. is unwarranted. I'd don't work for the company but I am a fan.

You are absolutely correct about bureaucratic crap getting in the way of innovation. I even agree with your point.

But I must say I am tired of hearing about how great Steve Job's is... He is great but Apple can't be the only company that has a focus on design and innovation.

Once again - sorry if I came across as attacking you - I didn't mean to...

[grinich]

He is great but Apple can't be the only company that has a focus on design and innovation.

I'm quite tired of this as well. Lost in the mix are companies like Braun, BMW, Philips, and P&G. Their products are often just as well designed, if not more for the fact that they create things outside of consumer electronics.

Apple has some of the best advertising and branding in the world, and subsequently has a cult-like following. But I doubt many of its "fanboys" recognize the letters TBWA.

[pg]

Of the companies you list, Braun seems to me the only one that reaches Apple's standard.

There are lots of companies that produce great design. Artemide, Knoll, Bang & Olufsen, and so on. But these are a lot smaller than Apple. It's not easy to find a company with revenues as big as Apple's that does design so well.

[grinich]

It's not easy to find a company with revenues as big as Apple's that does design so well.

I've noticed that too. There seems to be an inverse correlation between company size and the quality of design. I think Apple is almost pseudo-exception to this though, since their ID team has less than a dozen people. Or maybe it's just because their CEO has taste.

But a lot of the best design still goes completely unnoticed. An object as simple as a Band-Aid might not evoke the same emotional response as a sleek aluminum MacBook or a Porsche 911, but I'd argue that its design is just as revolutionary and even more influential to the world.

Braun to me seems like Apple's older brother. Or at least just Dieter Rams.

[scumola]

I agree. Apple fanboys are like Porsche aficionados. They buy it because it's sexy and elitist, therefore, the consumer is also sexy and elite by association. It doesn't mean that Apple's products are better than any other, just more stylish. Do I even have to mention the huge number of flops that Steve Jobs had prior to the ipod? Do people remember the NeXT cube? The Newton? That mac that looked like a toilet seat?

I myself read your article and saw the ketchup bottle picture on the page prior to reading your thoughts about it and thought to myself "Oh yea, that upside-down ketchup bottle - that was a good product change, I never have to tap the side of the glass bottle again to make the ketchup come out! Yea!" But hearing your comments on the futility of the design change made me think that perhaps you just aren't the typical user of the product and you're the exception that's not satisfied with the design, not the rule.

I think that companies are making changes that work well with the company's 'vision' and sometimes the company's vision needs to change. The whole thing about Dodge/Chrysler is that they make larger vehicles - gas hungry, 2-ton trucks that are still very popular. Fiat bought them thinking that they can re-tool the assembly lines to make cars and parts for smaller, fuel-efficient cars which will be more popular (see Europe,France,... - people drive those crappy, little 2-cylinder cars everywhere and big trucks and minivans are not even heard of for the typical customer). Chrysler/Dodge made great changes for their trucks - I own one and it's more reliable than my wife's Honda Minivan, but the company's focus was on large cars, which are not in favor anymore by the general public. They made a good product and I'm sure that the CEO of GM probably owns and drives GM cars (as well as some luxury cars) on a very regular basis. The problem is that they were not seeing the big picture, that's all.