You’d better avoid copying a famous site’s design

This is what conventional wisdom says and Jacob Nielsen confirms.

Every paragraph of the article is insightful but I would like to focus on:

On Apple’s site, users had to hunt around to find the button to purchase an iPhone. Not only was the button in an unconventional location relative to most e-commerce sites, apple.com used internally inconsistent colors and labels for its Buy buttons.

Interestingly, having a (deserved) reputation for good design came to Apple’s rescue. Users were forgiving because they knew that the iPhone had high usability, and they were sufficiently committed to spending the extra time to find out how to purchase one.

See? Context counts.