Word is the newly announced phone from Steve Jobs will transcend superficial design and deliver user

Apple's (AAPL) introduction of the iPhone on Tuesday (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/10/07, "The Future of Apple") underscores the lesson Motorola (MOT) learned with the Razr: A sleek, sexy design can create lots of buzz and drive sales, but without smart, usable interface design, consumers will end up angry and disinclined to buy your next "hot" mobile-phone offering.

Design has nominally been a priority of cell-phone makers for a while now, at least since Nokia took the No. 1 spot in the market, thanks, in part, to its focus on color and style. Samsung played the design card in its rise. Then came LG, with its "Chocolate." But design, as these companies have embraced it, is little more than styling. It is design in the service of product lust, rather than user experience.