Why iPod Batteries Come Fully Charged: How Your Design Wins Customers

From your business structure to the smallest product detail, design builds trust between your customer and your company.

When Steve Jobs tasked his team with building the iPod, he continuously reminded them to “stay beginners” to treat your interactions with the device as if it was the first time. This meant not to assume a consumer would know how to work a certain aspect of the device, or that he or she would instinctively know how to navigate from one area to another. The smallest details mattered.

Take the fact that the iPod came fully charged and ready to be used. As iPod designer Tony Fadell explained in his TED talk featured on the TED Radio Hour episode “The Power of Design”, back then most products you pulled out of the box required a couple hours charging time before they could be played with. This completely killed the excitement of those who finally had their hands on this new, remarkable gadget.

“Little details are so important,” Liddell said. “And not just from a rational side, but an emotional one too.”