A slate of new computers, cellular phones and other electronica is defying the industry's pocket-protector philosophy of design that has emphasized substance over style for decades.

Once the domain of geeks who lusted after faster chips and bigger hard disks, technology is improving its standing with the fashionably hip with liquid-crystal, flat-panel screens and titanium-plated cellular phones.

Devices are experiencing a renaissance in design, in part, because the technology that powers them has become so commonplace it can easily be wrapped in more alluring forms, experts say.

"As the more mechanical functions become more similar across products, people look to products to fulfill the softer functions, the emotional function, the 'Gee, I think that's really cool' function," said Mike Nuttall, co-founder of IDEO, a San Francisco design firm.

Apple's new iMac computer and iPod music player, Sony Ericsson's svelte, color-screen T68 phone and Samsung's Yepp music players that can be worn like necklaces represent the first wave in a seismic shift.

In what experts call a constant tug-and-pull struggle between engineers and designers, form and function, the stylists are boldly winning ground.

Powerful semiconductors and sophisticated software, among other innovations, are freeing them from physical limits endured by the previous generation of phones and computers, said Michael Schrage, co-director of e-markets initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab.

"When the way things work are divorced from the way things look, your design tradeoffs ... are less constrained," he said.

That's not to say these devices aren't capable. They perform ably, the better ones amazingly well.

Appearances count

Technology firms have no choice but to focus more heavily on design, lest they be left hawking products that are indistinguishable from one another, Mr. Schrage said.

Companies are jockeying to appear more fashionable than rivals.

In February, Motorola unveiled its new high-end phone lineup at a design center in Milan, hoping to glom on to some haute couture magic.

Nokia, the world's largest cellular phone maker, launched a subsidiary, Vertu, in January to make gold and platinum phones encrusted with precious jewels that will sell for upwards of $21,000 each.

But the style revolution isn't limited to the stratospherically wealthy. Companies can make a tidy bundle by selling to the merely well-off.

The milk-white, capacious iPod starts at $399, while other prosaic music players, granted with considerably smaller memory, sell for a fraction of that.

Hanging such glittering bait in front of consumers works, experts say.

"If you are using your computer for slides or Internet access, any computer can do these things," Mr. Schrage said. "Do I buy on the basis of price or something else? A ... large number of people are willing to buy on the basis of something else and design fills that role."

Deciding factor

Desk-lamp-cum-sunflower computer Apple's new iMac has an adjustable flat-panel monitor.

Last week, Dave Caldwell walked into one of Apple's new stores and bought a top-of-the-line, $1,899 iMac to replace an aging Compaq machine.

The retired psychotherapy counselor said he was lured in by the computer's desk-lamp shape, which allows users to adjust the flat-panel monitor with a finger. He also liked the versatile music and digital photo programs. It was his first Apple purchase.

"Aesthetics, whether people admit it or not, is why you buy something," he said. "They [computers] all used to look the same."

In designing the new iMac, Apple wanted to make a computer that "physically fits people better," said Jonathan Ive, vice president of industrial design.

"If we had just set out to design a computer with a flat panel, that clearly would have an enormous influence on our approach," Mr. Ive said. "If you are not considering the problem appropriately, and you are not understanding its context, you are going to come up with a fairly predictable solution."

Identifying trends

About four years ago, the company noticed Americans' and Europeans' burgeoning interest in yoga and decided it needed a simple product where special-function keys were grouped together. The result was the wildly successful, 4-inch tall 8200 phone series.

"You have got to be able to see weak trends and make them strong trends," Mr. Curtis said. "That's something that we are striving for."

An attractive product often gratifies consumers in multiple ways, said Don Norman, a Northwestern University computer science professor and founder of the Nielsen Norman Group.

"I believe that if I have a knife whose balance feels good and wood is attractive, that I can cut better," he said. "It doesn't matter if that belief is true or not. As long as I believe it, it gives pleasure."

'Like driving a car'

"It's like driving a car," said Mr. McEneny, a hotel general manager. "If we all drove the same one, it would be a really boring world."

The automotive industry offers other parallels.

Henry Ford told customers they could buy the Model T in any color they wanted as long as it was black. In the 1990s, most personal computer makers offered nearly identical beige boxes that deviated only in processing power, memory and other technical qualities.

Mr. Nuttall of IDEO said things started to change in the early 1990s. He remembers when Silicon Graphics, a maker of specialized computer systems, broke ground just by introducing a computer colored and named Indigo.

"They got a lot of kudos for doing that," said Mr. Nuttall, who was consulting for Silicon Graphics at the time. "Whereas if someone had done it in the 1980s they would have gotten ridiculed."

But cutting-edge design doesn't guarantee business success, as Silicon Graphics can attest. The engineering powerhouse faltered in the late 1990s when it entered the mainstream corporate computing business. It was forced to cut thousands of jobs and struggled to regain its financial footing.

High-profile miss

"Design isn't the only component that will assure something's success in the marketplace," Mr. Ive of Apple said.

Other considerations

Ron Thomas, a financial consultant, said battery life was his primary consideration when he bought his Kyocera cellular phone from Sprint PCS. Having a phone that doesn't give out in a couple of hours is important to him because he doesn't have a home phone and travels frequently.

"I want to be able to talk longer," Mr. Thomas said. "Keep the colors to yourself, and give me a good battery so I can talk longer and make more money."

Ideally there shouldn't be a trade-off between battery life and style, experts say. Engineers and designers can and should develop devices that achieve harmony between form and function, said Dr. Norman, author of The Invisible Computer.

Stylish computers such as Sony's Vaio lineup or Apple's iMac are just better-looking machines that perform most tasks as well as their uglier brethren, he said. Designers and engineers think of devices narrowly as computers or phones, when they should be seen for the roles they perform.

Dr. Norman lauded the Handspring Treo phone and personal organizer for sporting a form that fit its function. The device has a thumb-operated keyboard and large screen for e-mail and Web access packed in a slim, flip-phone frame.

"Stop thinking about the technology and start thinking about what people are doing," Dr. Norman said. "That's the secret to good design."

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