I meet people all the time who don t know how to form a k on their Palms, said Tom Brignall, a graduate student and instructor at Western Michigan University. I find it funny that most people can t program a VCR, but yet they go out and buy a Palm. Mr Brignall said he wanted every single toy imaginable, he admitted that he did not really need any of them. And some gadgets have reshaped his life in undesirable ways. After he purchased a DVD player, for instance, he said, The whole idea of going out to movies as a social event was lost.
Many people discover new technology through advertising.
But marketing experts say that as technology toys become more sophisticated, it is often difficult to communicate what they can actually do through advertisements. Still, Dr Wathieu said consumers may wander from a particular brand if it is sold only on the strength of its gee-whiz factor, not on what it can do. Consumers who don t savour the sophistication of what they buy will still try to incorporate the new product into their lifestyle, added Dr Wathieu. But because they don t know the product very well, it s also not hard for them to switch to a new toy when they re bored. Too Complicated Many technology companies market them first to a tech-smart audience, said Bruce Kasrel, a senior analyst at Forrester Research.