Overshooting

The idea of a product's features overshooting users' ability to utilize those features is not that new. You just have to look at 100+mph cars sitting in 30mph traffic jams to see this in action. Another example is the huge hi-fi stereo system in a small apartment.

The following article discusses some research carried out by MORI, a market and public opinion research agency.

"The panellists warned that the consumer technology industry must place ease of use and design at the forefront of product development to achieve market potential. They blamed a competitive vendor culture for “feature over-kill” on products and recommended instead that vendors focus on technology basics in order to satisfy the real requirements of customers."

There's a lot to be said for making things simple. Rather than accepting this as the way to go, though, manufacturers are stuffing more features into ever-smaller devices, and making them even harder to use.

Sure, there are some people that want more and more features, but there are a hell of a lot of people who don't give a monkey's about that extra "performance."