The "iPod Phenomenon" and Aesthetic Sensitivity

I think it's interesting that some people are more sensitive than others to a product's look and feel. I, for example, consider myself to be fairly sensitive to such things; I often have difficulty making peace with a device or system that is not aesthetically pleasing, whereas family members might not even notice the issues I point out. As the textbook notes, there are MP3 players that have more functionality, more memory, etc., than the iPod. However, none of them are as purely enjoyable to use.

The obvious implication of the iPod's success against quantitatively "superior" products is that, in many cases, form is at least as important as function. I find it astounding that even now this implication is entirely overlooked or disregarded when designing new products.