Too many choices when buying a computer or music player lead to increased expectations and decreased satisfaction with the choice made, according to Blackfriarsi Marketing on Tuesday.

One of the secrets to Appleis success is the satisfaction of their customers. People who are highly satisfied tend to become loyal, even zealots. However, some of Appleis competitors mistake the zealotry for something unrelated to Appleis successful competitive approach: limiting choice.

"This presents a problem for businesses, because it means that to satisfy customers they ought to give them less to choose from; however, our western society is so focused on offering choice that this almost certainly seems like a poor business decision," the article posited. "...But the fact of the matter is that less choice, and consequently less freedom, is what actually liberates us as customers because it gives us greater satisfaction."

Apple choses to restrict that choice for consumers who donit have the desire to dwell on infinite options. Appleis competitors, wanting to promote freedom of choice, often go too far. "When a consumer has to choose between the Zen Vision W, Zen Vision, Zen Vision:M, Zen Neeon, Zen Neeon 2, Zen V, Zen V Plus, Zen Nano Plus and so forth, what are the chances theyill actually figure out which one is right for them?" the article asked.

With Apple products, the customer spends less time making a decision and when the decision is done, and the quality product arrives, the customer is more likely to feel that they made the right choice. But the added insight that Apple has is that the customer realizes they made the right choice in the first place.

The conclusion was that Appleis apparent zealots and loyalists are, "no more than very happy, deeply satisfied customers, and their competitors should learn from that."