Why are iPods in the kitchen drawer, and iPhones in people’s hands? It is about value.

A Value Opportunity Assessment (VOA) determines how to keep a product in the users’ hands; it determines a product’s key emotional and use factors.

Ideally, a successful product needs to be high-tech and high style (the upper right quadrant of value), but also have perceived value. The VOA discovers and optimizes the perceived value, which encompasses emotion, aesthetics, product identity, impact, ergonomics, core technology and quality. Generally speaking, products that make their users feel empowered, free, safe will hold user-loyalty over product that don’t address these emotional factors.

So, how does this explain the difference in iPods and iPhones from a perceived value aspect? The iPod plays music or movies portably, but there’s no reason to carry it around when the user is not listening to music or watching a movie. The iPhone performs these tasks AND calls tow trucks, orders pizzas and surfs the web. The latter functions provide the perceived values of security and empowerment.

Moral of the story? Successful product design and development addresses emotion as well as style and function. The VOA is key to good ROI.