When you were frantically unpacking your iPhone 3G were you also having problems figuring out how to put the SIM card in? In my packaging was a loose O2 SIM which obviously needs to plug into the iPhone… somehow!

Sure, the small hole in the top looks like a familiar place to engage the mechanism, but do you really want to go ramming a bent paper-clip in your shiny new priced-possession willy-nilly? I used to think I was pretty clued-up on product design - I have a 1st-class degree in it for god sake - but sometimes you start to question yourself. Surely I must be missing something??

Flicking through the user-manual didn’t help either. It’s pretty frustrating to have to:

1. Give in and resort to flicking through the manual for help* and
2. To not find the solution in there anyway.

After 5 more minutes of hitting things, it turned out that the SIM Ejector Tool was fully integrated INTO the packaging itself - you have to open up one of packaging compartments to reveal it. There was absolutely no indication that it would be hiding in there.

This is a great example of Cleverness vs Clarity. Apple decided to (mistakenly) go for the former on this one. I expect a clear distinction between a product’s packaging and the product itself. Apple: do you want your users to feel dumb?

[Ed.: He's a man, what do you expect?! ]

This entry was posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Design, Mobile devices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.