Media: Wharton on more Complexity than we can Handle

"The Upgraded Digital Divide: Are We Developing New Technologies Faster than Consumers Can Use Them?" takes a stern look at consumers and manufacturers and whether desires are matching up.

'Complexity among consumer technology products has never been greater -- a good thing if the complexity means product improvement. But Wharton experts say new bells and whistles pose challenges to businesses and consumers alike. Complexity -- along with choice -- can have a big impact on how firms make and market new and improved gizmos, and on the decision processes of the people expected to buy them.'

Companies, they argue, need to spend significant resources explaining new product features to time-strapped potential customers, more than a few of whom never figured out how to programme videocassette recorders 20 years ago. While the 'more savvy companies know this means beefing up their telephone, online and in-store support for new products.'

'Customers tend to accentuate the positive even in the face of past experience: They are aware that, in the past, they bought products and did not use their new features; nonetheless, they plow ahead and buy a new gizmo loaded with bells and whistles. Or, it may be the case that people know that they have not made use of next-generation product features in the past, but convince themselves that they still might do so this time around. Meyer uses the phrase "the possibility of infinite deferral" to describe this mindset.'

There is plenty more analysis in this vein.

Associated Link: Wharton: The Upgraded Digital Divide: Are We Developing New Technologies Faster than Consumers Can Use Them? (one off reg)

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