I find it entertaining that Apple is almost universally applauded for usability and the intuitiveness of their products. Don’t get me wrong, they do a great job. But, they could do better. Why is upgrading almost any software made by Apple a pain in the ass? It’s almost as if their product managers or marketing drones thought it would be a great idea to make every part of their software usable except for the upgrade process. It’s as if they want us Apple fanboys to keep hoping and waiting for the next product release to actually improve their software upgrade process as if we need our next hit. Or, we could just apply Occam’s Razor and conclude that they are lazy or don’t think it’s important. But, it’s more fun to apply a good conspiracy theory.

Why does an iTunes update require a complete reinstall? Why does the latest point release of XCode require a 1.5 GB download? Why does an iPhone upgrade require me to plug in my phone to my computer and then download some large file and apply and update? Can’t Apple who is almost unanimously heralded as the expert in product usability, design a mindless upgrade experience?

If you’ve used either Google Chrome or an Android phone, you know what I’m talking about. I don’t have to think about upgrading Chrome. When it comes to ugprading an Android phone, I don’t have to plug it into the computer, I just click a button on the phone.

The important lesson here is not to make your users think. Try to make the experience with your product as mindless as possible. In the meantime, I’ll be salivating for the next Apple product upgrade so that I can masochistically repeat the same process.

What do you think?

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