Waiting in line is stupid
This is a followup to John C. Dvorak’s column on PCmag.com:
Here’s one thing I’m looking forward to that a pocket product with somekind of GPS built-in and clever Web 2.0 apps would bring:
- Organisation in society and among people so that nobody needs to wait in line ever again.
In this society of consumerism, some people simply don’t question the fact that some coorporations are making a lot of money on them waiting in line. When you wait in line, you are generating frenzy around a product or service, like a magnet, the line tells passer bys that they should also stand in the line if they want to be normal. Normality today is to shut up, not care about politics, and to stand in lines to buy new products from large coorporations. In fact, the product is part of an experience and an event that is designed to attract more customers, to generate more profit.
The iPhone is all about the feeding of consumers with a flashy piece of gadget that has a flashy interface. Is this interface a better way to do consumer electronics? Or is it just a flashy animation that does not improve any aspects of usability, and a product that does not provide any new features? Surely Apple has had the ressources to research during the past couple of years what would be the best way to improve usabillity in consumer electronics? Has Apple mostly spent their R&D to create a flashy experience product but with no improvement in terms of usabillity and functionality?
Would some companies be able to earn even more money if there was a way that everyone could buy products and get experiences without having to wait in line?