Designed to fail

I recently bought an LG mobile phone as part of a Verizon contract. Unfortunately, though, the phone no longer works: the phone had gotten wet, according to the guy in the store. He even showed me a little white sticker inside the phone that has turned pink as proof that moisture was present. Fair enough, I cannot argue with that -- somehow, somewhere, the phone must have gotten wet. So out of the store I go with a new, full-price phone. Verizon must be laughing all the way to the bank when people like me accidently get a teeny-weeny bit of moisture in the phone from normal, day-to-day use and the phone fails. (I had put the phone on a damp kitchen counter.)


The above example is a classic case of where an available technology is not incorporated into the product in order to increase sales of that product. Here are a couple more:

1. Those toothbrushes and razors with the little blue strip. (Oral-B/Gillette, both brands in the P&G house of brands)

2. Car tires.

3. Ink jet cartridges.

4. Bars of soap.

If the company doesn't get you at the product design stage, they might just try some of the following tactics:

1. Tell you to use more than you need on the packaging: "Rinse and repeat" with shampoos.

2. Emphasize sell-by or expiry dates.

3. Bring in a new model.

4. Suggest new uses for the product. (Recipes for Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup/dozens of uses for bicarbonate of soda)

This type of innovation deserves a name all of its own!