A PC is a PC is a PC. Right? It is supposed to be a white-colored box, which is used to do tasks like word processing and number crunching.
p____p Maybe. But today�s PCs not only do all that, but can also be used to download as well as play music, games or even video files, surf the Internet and what have you…
p____p Sometime ago, when it left the office and migrated to the drawing room, blending in with domestic furniture, utilitarianism went out and consumerism came in. Well, the fact is that the PC is now a consumer product like any other.
p____p Actually, this was quite inevitable. Because how long would your consumer have tolerated a big white box in his drawing room, when his television, audio system and even refrigerator looked sleek and posh?
p____p Perhaps, the first vendor to realize this was Apple, which introduced good-looking multicolored and translucent desktops. It was then that several others like IBM and Compaq picked up the cue, and began to realize that there was a market waiting to be tapped.
p____p As PC-based devices like MP3 players, CD-writers, and digicams appeared on the scene, the trend became visible. The PC itself underwent a transformation; from a box used for official purposes to a device, which is used for entertainment and games.
p____p There have been several such precedents. For instance, the wristwatch was initially a very utilitarian device, which was used to keep time. It used to be called “the chronometer”! Gradually, however, people got tired of wristwatches that looked the all the same and hence, variations like the pocket-watch and the “gold-hunter” made their appearance.
p____p Remember Mahatma Gandhi�s watch? Had he been around today, he would have had a choice of wearing a Microsoft-OS loaded Swatch!
p____p Well, there was also a time when people thought all refrigerators must necessarily be white in color. Cars too once existed in plain monochromes. The automobile tycoon, Henry Ford had even said: “You can buy a car of any color, as long as it is black”! Surely, this is unthinkable today when people would rather not buy a car, if it was not of their favorite color.
p____p PCs and PC-related devices are no different. Looks matter a lot, regardless of whatever femiNazis and other utilitarians will tell you. And people are willing to pay extra for a sleeker and more colorful product, whether it is a PC or an MP3 player.
p____p That is precisely the reason why it is simply not enough for your product to run on the latest P4. It must have sex appeal that makes the end user drool over it and go weak in the knees.
p____p In other words, you will discover that it is so much more easy, to seduce a potential customer with that sexy looking product. After all, isn�t a thing of beauty, a joy forever?