To the average person, being able to see the buttons is hugely important. I've seen plenty of otherwise capable people struggle with the B (trigger) button on the Wii. I can't imagine if there were more than one.
And that's besides trying to name the damn things (PS2/3's L1 L2 L3 is horrible)
The Xbox has 2 buttons (one analog trigger, one digital) that are not visible, so it's not a totally alien concept. I'm just saying to use that idea, and move a few more buttons to the backside and leave the thumbs for analog input. Imagine using a thumbstick and a trackball at the same time, while your other fingers are available for other button presses at the same time. Desktops can't even do this type of input correctly because they're stuck with that ancient mouse-thing from the 1980's.
The XBox controller has a much larger difference between the buttons than the PS2/3 does. The PS1 one was absolutely terrible. I could never remember which bumper was 1 and which was 2, and I used the damn thing all the time.
Xbox's LB and LT make more sense, even if it isn't perfect.
Of course, I know plenty of people who could never remember that the Z button existed on the GameCube controller.
Of course, I was talking about average folks, and this product is clearly not aimed for them.
And that's besides trying to name the damn things (PS2/3's L1 L2 L3 is horrible)