Ah, the ubiquitous cell phone. So versatile. So indispensable. So short-lived. We make one billion of them every year because we can’t live without them, yet we cast them aside every 18 months on average. They collect in heaps and shipping containers around the world, their once-coveted designs and features more irrelevant than last month’s news. Why such a shabby end for this marvel of convenience?

Cell phones are the poster children for products with illogical life cycles. They lead fabulous development lives and arrive on the scene like film stars. Everyone wants to be seen with one and is happy to pay for the privilege. About 6 billion phones now ride about in humans’ pockets and carryalls (and there are 7.1 billion of us walking around). They are, after all, amazing, useful objects, lending their glamour to our humdrum selves. Sadly, though, they are vulnerable to a fatal affliction: the human attention span. They are anticipated, adored, and abandoned in an apparently endless cycle. It’s a significant quality flaw in the production process.

 …