When we talked about User Centered Design in college, they pointed out that it’s tough to make an “intuitive” user interface as well, since everyone has a different definition of what’s intuitive to them (based on their experiences as you pointed out).

The other danger is, of course, that the people designing the product believe something to be so “intuitive” based on their experiences (and having built it) that they can’t imagine how any user could have trouble with it and end up playing the blame the stupid users game.

So intuitive is really a pretty sketchy word…maybe even just a buzzword… in UI design I personally think.
Usable is the key, and that really shows in the end experience for people using your product. I think you’re right that if they don’t instantly get it and have to learn, that’s totally OK and leads us to things like the mighty iPod and iPhone.

The key may be in being appealing enough that your users WANT to learn, and then making the learning process as smooth and enjoyable as possible. I agree that standardized conventions don’t solve everything either. You may be so ’standard’ as to lack apeal (would you rather have a Razor or an iPhone at this point?). You gotta take risks to stand out…user-friendly risks in the best cases.

-E