Doug Freyburger wrote:
:: "Roger Zoul" wrote:
::: Pat wrote:
:::
::::: What I think is that this design was planned...For example: the
::::: first year the Foreman grills came out, there was no way to alter
::::: the temperature settings and the grids were fixed. The next year,
::::: the temperature control was introduced. Then, the removable grids
::::: were introduced. I think this was planned from the get-go----a
::::: sort of "arc" of the lifetime of the grill, just as TV shows have
::::: a development arc of their stories.
:::
::::: Count me as a skeptic...
:::
::: Why be a skeptic on a perfectly sound business model? What you're
::: saying doesn't sound far-fetched to me. They are into it to make
::: money and we only have to buy if we want to. Of course, they
::: probably didn't think that far ahead....they just realized they had
::: something and looked for ways to improve it to make even more $$$!
:::
::
:: My take is that simpler products usually sell better than complex
:: products,

"Lower cost models sell better than high cost models" would be another way
to say that. Certainly, the initial outlay of funds supports doing so.

:: so at first they trimmed it down to a tiny set of features. Since it
:: sold
:: well that way they started adding features and variety. I don't
:: think the
:: arch was planned in advance because they couldn't have known the
:: first model was going to sell well.

It very well could have been planned using the logic you wrote.

But once it did sell well the
:: arch of adding
:: features became obvious.

Which meant it was obvious even before. Frankly, I don't see an evil intent
here. A lot of people didn't buy he first models. So there were plenty of
new customers to sell to.

::
:: About the only one that surprised me was the grill on a pedestal that
:: tries
:: to replace the charcoal/propane grill.

Hey, sometimes you never can tell for sure what will be a hit and what
won't.