Subject: BusinessWeek: Home Is Where the Tech Is

From: Stuart Cheshire <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 02:45:53 -0800

I found this article in BusinessWeek particularly topical, considering 
our discussions around the topic of "reliable and easy to use":

<http://yahoo.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2003/tc20030122_8208.h
tm>

>For consumer-electronics manufacturers and retailers to prosper in an
>increasingly competitive environment, they'll have to provide better
>customer support. This means improved service as well as more
>consumer education. A lot of people now know how to take snapshots
>with digital cameras, but that doesn't mean they know how to e-mail
>pictures to friends, display them on a big screen, or back them up on
>their PCs. Customer-service reps at Linksys report that increasing
>numbers of callers wait to hear a live voice before they even tear
>the shrink-wrap off the box. Finding ways to both lessen the
>frustration of consumers who can't assemble their costly purchases
>and keep profits up will be a challenge for many companies, as more
>and more novices buy increasingly sophisticated gear.

Stuart Cheshire <[email-masked]>
 * Wizard Without Portfolio, Apple Computer, Inc.
 * Chairman, IETF Zeroconf
 * www.stuartcheshire.org