Handpicked Software

Few things are as exhilarating as opening the packaging for a new Apple product. Just look at Genie Nilsson (shown above) opening her G5 in the Genie Apple G5 Setup Gallery). Compare the experience to opening a copy of Microsoft Office (make sure you have a sharp pair of wire cutters).

I love Macs because of the design, and at Apple great design begins with the Box. I still have a few Apple boxes sitting in my garage, and I kept the box from my iPod in the closet for a long time, too. I’m not really sure why I kept them (if something needs servicing, Apple sends you a box for shipping).

As Wired reports in Meet the Apple Pack Rats, some people collect Apple packaging. There’s even a flickr group devoted to the design and packaging of Apple’s products, called ApplePorn. And some people put the packaging to good use, like UberGeek Colin D. Devroe, who converted an iPod box into an iPod box dock.

The only thing I’ve purchased that offered a similarly satisfying out-of-box experience is my Tissot Touch Screen Smart Watch. The box was beautiful, the watch wrapped around a pillow, a Tissot catalog and a 278-page history of the company tucked away in a slip case in the bottom of the box.

As more companies follow Apple’s lead in taking design more seriously, let’s hope they start with the packaging. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression and, as Apple knows, first impressions can be lasting ones.