The way products are packaged simultaneously fascinates and frustrates me. Like a lot of you, my Amazon.com order box is filled with memories of wrestling, gnawing, hacking and basically destroying the container just to get at the thing inside. They even make a special tool for some of the more infuriating packaging, very helpful for those products that are entombed in some kind of plastic carbonite. There are plenty of good companies that make great products with lousy packaging; it’s truly a neglected art form in consumer electronics.
One of Apple’s defining characteristics as a company is their attention to detail, a vein that runs all the way through their production ecosystem: from the design of their products to how they’re retailed and marketed to their customer service. It’s not surprising that they have some of the best packaging in the industry. The Apple Remote is a good example:
1. Yes, this is a packaged product.
2. Hmmm…where should I pull?
3. A continuous thread of adhesive plastic holds the clamshell together.
4. Two pieces of hard plastic, backed by a product manual with a single thread holding it together.
This is the kind of thinking that extends through all of Apple’s products and it’s the reason I’m unapologetic about using them.
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