Design Matters

I don't get why so many businesses have difficulty with this idea: "your customers care about design, even if they don’t". From the Voltage Blog:

A 3-year Fortune-500 study conducted by research firm Peer Insight found companies focused on customer-experience design outperformed the S&P 500 by 10-to-1 from 2000-2005. One more time for those in the back: that was 10-1. Your customers care about design; a lot; ten-to-one a lot. Even if they don’t (know it).

Design as a concept should be applied to all aspects of how a customer or client both interact with a product and from the business itself. So why don't so many businesses bother? Whatever the reason it's fortunate for competitors, startups and entrepreneurs.

Added bonus (not particularly related to anything in particulary): Instapundit calls it a crime against nature. Introducing the Uno: a 'Unicycle-Motorbike-Segway Hybrid'. I think it's pretty cool. I just wonder how it handles potholes - cuz that's what it'd be up against if the target market is developing countries.