Consumers' changing relationship with new technologies
Nigel Sheldon
Confidence plays a considerable part in the consumer take-up of new technologies. Greater familiarity leads not only to deeper usage and more sophisticated involvement, but also engenders heightened expectations.
Across the globe, vibrant communities are establishing themselves, from SMS users in the Philippines to Quechua cyber-coffee shops in Peru, and in the not-too-distant future China will have more people online than North America.
While access and affordability are not the barriers they used to be, the discord between intangible product and the provision of unattractive services is being eroded too. Simplicity and...