The Consumer Conundrum

I recently had a stark reality re-confirmed about consumers. This reality literally defies all that we work for in the technology sector, which is why I am calling it the consumer conundrum. The reality in which I am referring to is that most consumers are content with their current technology. Whether it is their cell phone, TV, DVD player, laptop or desktop you name it, most of them are content. This reality was re-confirmed when I was showing a friend of mine, who is a Youth Pastor and has very little to no interest in technology, my digital home lab where I am doing all sorts of great stuff like moving HD video from room to room, pausing a DVD I was watching in the living room and then picking it up where I left off in my bedroom, accessing my living room DVR shows from my bedroom, etc. When I asked him what he thought of the whole thing his response was an un-energetic “it’s cool.” I honestly can’t comprehend this response because to me this stuff is fantastic. When I asked him if he would use a set up like it he said no. He is happy with his current setup. My wife is the same way she likes the way our house is set up and thinks it is convenient but would she ever spend money on it, no way. The bottom line is most people are content with what they currently have. Consumers just aren’t driven to find the latest and greatest technologies. They don’t sit around like me and think about how ridiculous it is that my recorded TV shows are stuck in my living room. So we as an industry have to drive the real value of these products before we can expect the everyday non-techie consumer to spend actual money on them. The conundrum may be as well that we are not sure what the value is because for us there are a number of valuable things about these products. In the end it may only be one that gets consumers to spend money. I think what I am getting at is that the likely hood of the digital home, all though entirely possible today, is still a long way off.