What's new
Apple iPad Forum 🍎

Welcome to the Apple iPad Forum, your one stop source for all things iPad. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

HomePod White Ring Due to Insufficient Q&A Testing by Apple

Maura

iPadForums News Team
Joined
Jun 7, 2010
Messages
3,894
Reaction score
261
Location
UK
design experts talk about Apple's HomePod white ring problem.JPG

Business Insider has been talking to industrial design experts about the issue that Apple is currently having with HomePods leaving white rings on certain treated wood surfaces.

While the problem is not specific to Apple’s product, with reports appearing last week that the Sonos One speaker also left a similar residue, it’s not the sort of thing that you’d normally expect from Apple’s usually very strict design standards.

“I’m actually very surprised,” commented Cesar Viramontes, senior industrial designer at Y Studios in San Francisco, adding that this was not an issue that he had come across before in his work.

“They didn’t test the product enough and in the right variety of circumstances, especially considering that a wood surface is a very likely support for the product,” said Ignazio Moresco, a product design expert who has worked at frog design, Microsoft, and Ericsson.

“They should have caught the issue if they followed a rigorous QA process.”

Gregor Berkowitz, a product development consultant for consumer electronic brands, said that Apple most likely failed to take into account the possibility of such an issue due to its lack of experience with a product that stands on something.

“This is sitting on a bookshelf. Is it going to work? Or are there going to be problems? A traditional consumer product company or a speaker company or a traditional Hi-Fi company is going to worry about that and think about those problems and have experience with it,” said Berkowitz. “This shouldn’t be new for Apple but it is.”

But there is good news for Apple from Business Insider’s panel of experts, however, as they say that it should be easy to fix the issue.

“It’s an issue, but I think it’s probably going to be one that’ll be corrected in the next round of manufacturing,” said Viramontes. “I think it will be a minor issue, and people will probably forget about it in the next couple of months when it goes away.”

Source: Apple's 'white ring' problem reflects a surprising lapse in quality control, but industrial design experts say it shouldn't be too hard to fix
 

Most reactions

Latest posts

Top