Gadgets Include User Attachment

Scott Rose is gaga for his iPod.

"Imagine being in a romance so perfect, you wonder how you ever managed to survive before this person came into your life," said Rose, a 33-year-old Los Angeles computer consultant. "That's how I feel about my iPod."

Rose's passion for his digital music player stems less from the mysterious chemistry of human devotion than from the calculating precision of Apple Computer Inc. engineers, who designed the iPod to elicit the same sort of warm, gooey feelings most people associate with love.

The tiny player's curves, for instance, are baby smooth.

"It really begs to be caressed," said Apple's Greg Joswiak.

Its reflective stainless steel back demands constant polishing.

"People use it as a mirror," Joswiak said. "It becomes a reflection of them and their unique taste in music."

Its white plastic case is "pure."

All that rhapsody for something that is essentially an unromantic hard drive and a few silicon chips?

Across the consumer electronics industry, traditionally geeky manufacturers are embracing their sensitive side to develop products that evoke feelings, including joy, desire, comfort and nostalgia.

"Technology used to be sold primarily on the basis of functional needs," said Tim Brown, chief executive of Ideo, a design firm in Palo Alto. "But things that are functional are too easy to copy because companies are all getting access to the same technologies. That's when meeting emotional needs becomes steadily more important."

That's what Hannspree Inc. concluded three years ago when the Taiwanese display manufacturer decided to make its own branded TVs. But instead of churning out cheap LCD screens, Hannspree took a different tack. Last year, it launched a line of 100 TVs, each aimed at different emotional targets. One is shaped like a plush puppy, another like a baseball that is actually made of hand-stitched leather.

"If you saw a TV that looked like a baseball, you'd think it's fun," said Michael Galvin, a marketing manager for Hannspree. "And you'd know it's a gimmick. But when you touch it, it's both surprising and reassuring. You don't expect it to be the real thing. But it is, and you remember what it felt like when you held a baseball, you remember when you went to a ballpark. You connect it with whatever baseball means to you. The TV is both visual and tactile, so it's a much stronger impact."