But these benefits to farmers were outweighed by the price collapse when the farmers' customers, particularly European supermarkets, decided they didn't want GM products - because their customers in turn didn't want GM, on their plates or in their environment. Whether these distant customers were right or wrong is beside the point. They were the ultimate customers for GM food and they had the power to take their custom elsewhere. Monsanto was talking to. The promise of WAP is that it will deliver information and entertainment to people as they move around.
Consumers ought therefore to see it as a great convenience.
However, in reality, people are finding it is taking them a couple of minutes just to get connected, so no matter how good the information the chances are it isn't worth the wait. WAP is now perceived by consumers as a waste of time. The lesson in WAP is that it's all to easy to think about what the technology ought to do, rather than checking on how it appears to consumers. Of course, with any new technology, it is hard to tell whether consumers are irredeemably not interested and never likely to be, or just not interested yet. This is why so many failed technology initiatives never really die.