Which Apple device do you think shouldn't exist?

I love Apple computers & phones - they truly excel in making high quality machines. It reminds me of Sun Microsystems back in the day - there’s just a craftsmanship that goes into their products that you don’t find anywhere else.

But for some reason, that incredible attention to detail doesn’t seem to extend to their peripherals. This isn’t universally true, but some of Apple’s most popular peripherals showcase some of their biggest design flaws.

Now if the peripherals below only caused trouble for me, then fair enough. But I always do research to see if I’m using a product incorrectly when it has issues, and the peripherals below seem to be widely panned for the same flaws I’ve encountered:

Earbuds: For the love of God, I CANNOT get these to stay in my ears. I end up wedging them in & then pushing them BACK in every 3 minutes, no matter what. Even if I’m not moving. It makes me feel like I’m taking crazy pills, because when you look at the design, there’s nothing to keep it in place, which is why every other earphone on the market is designed differently. More On MacRumors…

Magic Mouse 1 & 2: The rails! It’s like dragging a brick across my desk! Overall, I really love the magic mouse, but I use a Teflon mousepad & Teflon rail-tape to give it the response that my logitech has on a $3 mousepad. I’ve read that the rails were designed this way on purpose to provide more stability for finger gestures. Well Apple, I’m giving you finger gesture right now! More on this…

Lightning Cable: Yes, I saved the best for last. I don’t mind that it costs $20 for a 3-foot cable that costs about 50-cents to manufacture. It bothers me that it has about a 2 month life-expectancy, though. The cables aren’t reinforced well, they don’t have wonderful finger-grip, and the end result is that they get destroyed pretty rapidly. I’ve written before that for what they cost, Apple needs to take these to a Mag Safe connector & solve the issue completely. More on this…