Yes, Gadget Fatigue is Real - No, Don’t Do Anything About It
A report released by Underwriters Laboratories last week has found that of 1200 people surveyed in 4 countries, 48% feel, “high-tech manufacturers bring new products to market faster than people need them.” The NYT Bits blog does its part, calling it evidence of “gadget fatigue,” while TechCrunch says mainstream consumers are stuck in the ’90s and need to speed up. Both articles blame marketing departments for the incessant touting of “revolutionary” products.
Of course, in the mainstream consumer population gadget fatigue is very real. More and more products are being released, and regardless of how they sell or how well conceived they are - many of them will end up stashed in drawers or [hopefully] recycled less than a year from purchase. This isn’t actually a problem though, and here’s why:
- Most of the media industry isn’t even close to an endgame for digital distribution that produces revenue at a level they’ll accept. Until then every new device is an iteration on finding a product/market fit that works at scale, and it needs to happen.
- The consumer software industry is in the middle of a once-in-the-history-of-planetary-evolution development period, where each new app has the potential for a billion downloads. This is the stuff that actually makes gadgets “amazing” and “revolutionary,” after all.
- Companies constantly trying to win business with new technology products isn’t nearly as scary as the future where consumer electronics are just as ubiquitous but with the same eggshell color computer cases of the mid ’90s.
Eventually, everyone will be a digital native. By then the idea that a person can be fatigued by products that offer access to unlimited information and entertainment should be comfortably resting in peace.
