Consumer Behaviour Essay -- Technology, The iPhone

Symbolic Consumption: The iPhone In this era of emerging economies and growing globalisation, the demand for symbolic goods continues to expand, and at a fast rate. With recent advances in technologies such as personal digital assistants (PDA’s), satellite/tracking devices, mobile phones and many others springing up almost every day, it is not surprising that consumers would be willing to part with large amounts of cash for these products. One of such technological advancement is the iPhone, a fascinating instance of adaptation, which is fast becoming a most sought after brand. The issue however is whether this new technological advancement of the iPhone is going to be a continuous trend or will just fizzle out in the nearer future. To understand deeply the phenomenon of symbolic consumption, we must first understand what it means. According to Kerrigan et al. (2004), symbolic consumption deals with the consumption of products and services as sources of meaning. An important aspect of symbolic consumption is that consumers no longer consume products simply for their functional value, but for their symbolic value, for what these products mean to themselves and to others (Kerrigan et al 2004). In other words, these products more or less become commodity signs. Digital-era commodity goods like the iPhone are symbolic markers or what Thorstein Veblen would call conspicuous consumption or â€Å"status symbols† (2007). To make sense of this rapturous reception, the iPhone would however now be examined as a notable instance of symbolic consuming culture. In June 2007, the hottest cellular phone hit town, with a vast array of technological wonders never before put together inside a tiny gadget called cell phone (Blokdijk 2008). It was Ap... ...d therefore argue that products involve a form of natural process within which the designer plays a key role. Like any product, the iPhone has its own life span or in other words, evolutionary timeline, its own inherited traits, its own product design and its own adapted state through its environment. As global technology is continuously introduced and replaced, it would get to a stage where the symbolic value of the iPhone would no longer be appreciated. This is because more advanced and superior mobile devices would have come into place, thereby stealing the limelight from the iPhone. Additionally, the study of behaviors and attitudes towards a specific technology such as the iPhone are extremely vulnerable to new products and trends, making the findings of any study outdated in a very short period of time. In other words, social values also changes over time. Consumer Behaviour Essay -- Technology, The iPhone Symbolic Consumption: The iPhone In this era of emerging economies and growing globalisation, the demand for symbolic goods continues to expand, and at a fast rate. With recent advances in technologies such as personal digital assistants (PDA’s), satellite/tracking devices, mobile phones and many others springing up almost every day, it is not surprising that consumers would be willing to part with large amounts of cash for these products. One of such technological advancement is the iPhone, a fascinating instance of adaptation, which is fast becoming a most sought after brand. The issue however is whether this new technological advancement of the iPhone is going to be a continuous trend or will just fizzle out in the nearer future. To understand deeply the phenomenon of symbolic consumption, we must first understand what it means. According to Kerrigan et al. (2004), symbolic consumption deals with the consumption of products and services as sources of meaning. An important aspect of symbolic consumption is that consumers no longer consume products simply for their functional value, but for their symbolic value, for what these products mean to themselves and to others (Kerrigan et al 2004). In other words, these products more or less become commodity signs. Digital-era commodity goods like the iPhone are symbolic markers or what Thorstein Veblen would call conspicuous consumption or â€Å"status symbols† (2007). To make sense of this rapturous reception, the iPhone would however now be examined as a notable instance of symbolic consuming culture. In June 2007, the hottest cellular phone hit town, with a vast array of technological wonders never before put together inside a tiny gadget called cell phone (Blokdijk 2008). It was Ap... ...d therefore argue that products involve a form of natural process within which the designer plays a key role. Like any product, the iPhone has its own life span or in other words, evolutionary timeline, its own inherited traits, its own product design and its own adapted state through its environment. As global technology is continuously introduced and replaced, it would get to a stage where the symbolic value of the iPhone would no longer be appreciated. This is because more advanced and superior mobile devices would have come into place, thereby stealing the limelight from the iPhone. Additionally, the study of behaviors and attitudes towards a specific technology such as the iPhone are extremely vulnerable to new products and trends, making the findings of any study outdated in a very short period of time. In other words, social values also changes over time.