I work in the A/V field, installing high-end home theatres. We have sold numerous iPronto's already, and now that the iPronto platform is actually (finally) stable (after that last firmware upgrade! whew!) we'll be selling more. Every one of our clients loves the operatability of the iPronto, it's look, feel, and of course functionality. Has a single one of our clients strained a single brain cell over the UI, or device setup or what have you? No. Why? That's my company's job! :) We took the iPronto, basically threw out the default configuration, and designed from scratch a setup that has graphics designed from in-house, and a clear, clean, straight-forward design-functionality flow to it. Our clients just want it to work, and work WELL. They don't _want_ to know how it works.

So I would not fault Philips to such a degree -- keep in mind the iPronto's primary target market -- Custom Home Theatre installation companies, not the joe consumer! It is the A/V installer that sells the iPronto (usually as a finished, integrated product) to the consumer.

I hear what you're saying -- sure, it's a complex device, with a learning curve. It wouldn't be a bad thing if it was a little 'friendlier' in a couple of areas. But think about this -- although the iPronto is a lot less expensive than Crestron gear, it is not what you would call 'cheaply priced'. Just imagine if Philips had a whole team put together, that did all this R&D, IR database-stuff and what not. How much do you think all their salaries, all this work would cost? And who would pay for it? Philips would pass the cost on to the consumer! If you think it's expensive now, think of how much more it could cost with all that extra stuff.

The fact that the iPronto is basically affordable is a major feature. The fact that it can pull off near-to-Crestron level functionality without the costly, costly Crestron equipment is a big plus. I'd just as soon not have that sucker cost any more than it already does ...