iPod and Rio: the devil's in the details

It's no secret what went down between Rio and
Apple—an all out war for early market dominance of the MP3 player market. (We'll give you one guess as to who won.) You all remember that the iPod wasn't the first (hard drive) MP3 player out, right? We know neither was Rio technically, but Dan Harden, formerly of Frog Design, shared his insights on coming aboard with Rio at a crucial point for the company in order to help ensure they didn't, well, go under. The money quote? "Apple was so enamored with absolute pure, minimalist design that some designers may argue that ergonomics were compromised." Some big words against the digital audio goliath, no doubt, but he reminds us to "not forget that [the iPods] are made in China [too]."

[Via
slashdot]