Architectures of Control

In response to my post the other week about designing products for theft protection [fluggart.com], dj bryan [blogspot.com] sent me a link to fulminate // Architectures of Control [danlockton.co.uk]. It is a fascinating weblog about companies try to control consumers through the design of their products.

For instance, there is a post about how Nokia phones handle 3rd party batteries. Instead of unleashing lawyers or using dedicated chips to prevent their use (a la Epson inkjet printers), Nokia phones will apparently just go into a maximum power-consumption mode unless a Nokia-brand battery is installed. The intent, of course, is to convince consumers not to buy 3rd party accessories.

This is probably a smart strategy (although I abhor it, as a consumer). The strategies that companies like Lexmark and Epson have used to prevent consumers from refilling ink cartridges or buying 3rd party ink cartridges for their printers have created a lot of ill will from consumers. There are a lot of companies that I refuse to buy products from because of the ridiculous lengths they go to, to prevent their customers from doing things that seem perfectly reasonable. I won't buy anything from Sony any more, because of the root-kit fiasco. And I don't buy DVDs anymore, because of things like using "theft-prevention" features to prevent me from being able to fast-forward through commercials before the movie is played.

But the Nokia battery strategy is unlikely to similarly create ill will from consumers, because most people will probably not spend the time to determine why the 3rd party battery they just bought doesn't work as well as they expected. They will assume that the 3rd party batteries are lower in quality, and it it is just easier to buy the Nokia-branded ones.

Anyway, I have been fascinated by the posts.