Style is Not Important. It’s Essential.

In the early stages of any products life, function is what gets our attention. In consumer electronics: better picture, clearer sound, more organization, greater convenience. These are the things that sell the early adopters.

But the life of innovative function is short lived. We all know you can get a DVD player for $30. While manufacturers and retailers can continue to offer products that cost less and less, one alternative we see again and again is choosing to make them look better.

I recently ran into a friend, one of the most techie people I know, and he proudly pulled a brand-new one mega-pixel camera out of his pocket. It was tiny and could hang around his neck. Obviously, he did not buy this camera for the high-quality single mega-pixel pictures. He bought it because it was small, and it looked neat.

When function is the only thing that matters, a product can look like a giant orange turtle and still sell. But when there are lots of giant orange turtles, it won’t be long before someone decides to make theirs smaller or more attractive. Consumers will not forfeit function, but if a manufacturer is not willing to add an aesthetic value, their competitor will.

A Consumer Electronics Association survey showed us women account for 58 percent of electronics purchases.

That same study showed 46 percent of women say they have the most influence on home purchases and 42 percent reported having equal say.

In other words: "Ninety percent of the time women will make the buying decision because it becomes a function of home décor,” said Michael Steinberg, the former CEO of Macy's West, in a recent interview.

Let me repeat that: “…it becomes a function of home décor.” Translated: it has to look good; it has to fit in the home.

If you watch MTV, maybe you’ve seen the show Cribs. In this show, we get to tour famous people’s homes and without fail, right above the fireplace is a giant Plasma TV. This is not because it performs better. It is because it takes less space, it looks cool and it no longer forces the television to be the central focus of the room. One could walk into the room and not notice that you have a giant TV on the wall. Sure the picture is good; it is a huge screen and all that. But it could just as easily be all of those things and still take up half of the living room.

The point is it does not take up half of the living because people do not want it to. There are other things worth showing off in the home. Décor is important. Style is important.

Of course, “back stage” products like cables, batteries and cleaners do not need to look good, they need to be invisible. If it is not going to add to the décor, just make sure it will not detract. Given the opportunity, and comparable function, ugly accessories will get replaced by stylish accessories.

But back stage products aside, there are other appliances fighting for space in the family room. For example, computer workstations may not be in their own room any more. They could be in the corner of the living room, the kitchen, or in the “media room.” And no one can deny that computer manufacturers are making their products more attractive. I am not sure of the last time I saw a boring beige CPU in my local office store, but it has been a while. Now it seems the standard is ABB (anything but beige): black, silver, white.

Going beyond the elegant white shell of the iMac, Apple is heavily promoting the computer’s wireless capability. Using Bluetooth, the keyboard and mouse can connect wirelessly. No wires on the desktop. This makes it incredibly clean and attractive.

This seems counterintuitive to the Consumer Electronics study, which showed that a majority of women said using "female" colors on technology equipment is a bad idea and would not impact purchasing decisions. But in the market, out on the retail shelf, why does that very marketing strategy work?

In early 2004, Apple introduced the iPod Mini: the smaller, more colorful version of the industry-leading iPod. Sales of the iPod Mini exploded. But here’s the catch: a colorful four-gigabyte iPod Mini cost $250, while a plain white 20-gigabyte iPod costs $300. That’s 20% more price for 400% more memory. And the Mini sold! In fact, it was often out of stock. Could it be because the iPod Mini is pink, blue or silver?

When people say they are concerned with home décor, they mean they want good looking products. Form may follow function, but sometimes, function is not enough.

It is becoming widely recognized that women are playing a larger role in the electronics that are coming into the home. That fact, coupled with the traditional woman’s role as keeper of the home means we all have a new boss. Forget about working for the man. We’re working for the woman.