"Reaction [beta]"
Uninnovation 10 Oct 2006
We learnt a new word today:
"Uninnovation is the process of taking a product with existing features that customers would enjoy, spending extra time and money to remove those features, and then marketing the sub-par product without providing the consumer with alternatives. This seems like an illogical way for a corporation develop products, but the practice is being more common every day."
The archetypal example of uninnovation is Apple's iPod:
"The iPod is one of the most successful consumer electronics devices ever released and is renowned for superior design and attention to detail. Unfortunately, some of the most basic features that should be present have been removed in order to appease the recording industry.
"Have you ever tried to to copy all of your music on your iPod back onto your computer? You can’t. Apple goes to great lengths to make this as hard as possible even though many other mp3 players will let you do this without any problems.
"This is classic uninnovation. Even when third parties have provided utilities to copy music off of iPods, Apple has spent lots of time and energy finding new ways to disable them."
Of course Apple aren't the only uninnovators. There's Sony and Verizon too (to name but a few).
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