Innovating in the right places

Taiwanese companies design and manufacture a lot of personal computing gear. You might see these products with somebody else's name on it, or you might see a Taiwanese brand name stuck on the product. Either way there is a good chance that a Taiwanese firm was involved in the product's design/manufacture somewhere down the line.

I recently bought one of these monitors from Shuttle in Taipei because I loved the design. One of the nicest monitors I've ever seen. The thing not only looked great, it was sturdy!

There are mini PCs that accompany these monitors, and I had a look at those, too. The salesman was telling me that the unit is "silent" and rattled off a list of specs that meant nothing to me. The only thing that really caught my attention was the flimsy little door at the front of the unit. It was very junky indeed, which made me wonder what the rest of the build quality was like. I am sure that there were plenty other customers who felt the same way, hesitated, and walked out the door. Out of politeness, these customers probably didn't tell the salesman what they really thought, and the designers may never know that the door is perceived as junky.

Luxury car manufacturers know the importance of a solid door. The designers of PCs could learn from these guys.

Another area that is often neglected is something as simple as the letters on the keyboard: We have an Acer notebook and the letters are already disappearing after about a year of normal use. Fading letters on a notebook keyboard look hellish. Unlike the Acer notebook, the letters on an IBM, which I bought ages ago, are as clear as the day the thing was bought.



[Tags]: Innovation in Asia, innovation management, Joseph Schumpeter, ageing populations, product development, Innovation in China, Innovation in Taiwan