Yesterday, Walt Mossberg reviewed a new digital book reader from a company called Irex.
The full product name? The Irex DR800SG.
That’s right. Four letters separated by three numbers, none of which have any meaning to consumers. That should be easy to remember.
The first Linksys router listed on Amazon is called Linksys by Cisco WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router (Compatible with Linux).
If you want an HP laptop, you may be interested in the HP Pavilion DM3-1140US 13.3-Inch Laptop (Silver).
Don’t like HP? How about Sony? Maybe you’d consider the Sony VAIO VGN-NW240F/S 15.5-Inch Silver Laptop (Windows 7 Home Premium)?
Or the Toshiba Satellite L505-GS5037 TruBrite 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black).
Not in the market for a laptop? How about a TV?
There’s the Westinghouse PT-16H610S 15.6-Inch Portable Dual-Hinged LCD HDTV. And the Panasonic VIERA X1 Series TC-L26X1 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV.
And from one of my favorite high-definition TV makers: the VIZIO VA19LHDTV10T 19-Inch ECO 720p LCD HDTV. Because every model number should feature the HDTV acronym twice!
Good lord.
How can such excellent products have such terrible names? Because the engineers name the devices, and nobody in marketing, sales or public relations stands in their way. These model numbers only mean something to a few people inside the companies that create them — and yet, manufacturers force them upon the entirety of the consumer public.
The problem is these ungainly product names will single-handedly keep these products from catching fire and becoming popular with a critical mass of mainstream consumers. Because nobody will be able to remember the name!
You can’t develop consumer evangelists with a long, impossible-to-remember product name. Such names are evangelist repellents.
Let’s look at the product names of devices that do (or once did) enjoy consumer evangelists:
- The iPod
- The Mac
- The iPhone
- TiVo
- Palm
- The Walkman
“Those are just the brands,” I can hear you saying. “What about the names of the specific model numbers?”
OK:
- The iPod Nano
- The iPod 8 GB
- The iPhone 3GS
- The Palm III, The Palm Treo
- TiVo HD
- The 15-inch Macbook Pro
Do you feel me? The names of the specific models are snazzy, catchy, sticky, while defining the product’s details and differentiating it from other models. With TiVo, I understand that this TiVo is for HD video, and can assume that that TiVo is for SD (standard definition).
This iPod is the Nano, so it’s probably small. That iPod is bigger.
This Macbook Pro is the 15-inch model. That other Macbook is a different size.
Sure, these companies all assign more technical model numbers to their products — but nobody uses them publicly, facing consumers. For example, the model number for the 13-inch Macbook Pro is MB990LL/A. But try finding it on Apple’s Web site. I dare you. You won’t be able to. I had to dig around Google for a while before tracking it down. But you can bet it’s used all over the place internally at Apple. But in public, it’s all but locked down.
Model numbers are so easy to get right (just think simple), yet the vast majority of manufacturers get it wrong. And sadly, it’s a rate determining step: if your model number is crazy long, it’s instantly unmemorable. And to some consumers, it’s a downright turnoff. (“How can these people help me if their device’s model number is three lines long?”)
It’s too important, and there’s no excuse for the current state of high-tech model names. Make it simple. Get it right.