This is my comment posted [ go to the above link to see the ft blog]:
It was to do with presenting businesses to other businesses, be it for investment or just telling them who you are and what you do. It was part of a lot going on locally here in Surrey by the technology centres and the University, aided by funds from the Government to accelerate British small businesses.
Ok, well to the point, a lot of talk was about the technology in products not being as crucial as how they are delivered to the customer in a package they end up desiring and hence 'investing in'.
At Sonneteer, as a luxury British music systems(hi-fi) manufacturer turned to this approach a couple of years or so ago when we started to look at what customers actually really want (even if they dont know they want it yet) rather than stuffing every latest technology one can think of into an ugly box and trying to flog it.
In a sense a PC or full blown laptop is just this, a box of too many tricks, hampered in its usability because it tries to do so much. Netbooks, for want of a better term, do exactly what they are expected to do.
As a luxury goods maker, at Sonneteer, we have to try very hard to appeal to the 'wants ' of the buying public and more so than in the commoditised(can I say that?) market. So now we make 'Sexy hifi' in the same vein as apple make sexy MP3 players etc. And that's just the point. Desire and actual need, rather than; it makes the tea, cooks the dinner, feeds the dog we dont have and changes light bulbs as long as you are willing to plug in your laptop to it to download some software into it it and spend a day programming it if you have an IT degree!!
Keep it simple, keep it beautiful, make it sellable. HMG says so! To coin a Gordon Brown phrase, 'we've heard you'.
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