ABSTRACT
When someone buys or acquires a new piece of technology – a new car, PC, digital TV or any other device – it is usually presumed that it is to meet certain needs (for transport, information, leisure, and so on) and provide certain clear benefits. It is also assumed that those who design technologies do so to serve the well-defined needs of consumers. The image presented here is of the ‘rational’ consumer buying a new technology to satisfy clearly defined needs, and willing to complain when those needs are not being met in some way, and of producers seeking to exploit their knowledge of consumer needs in order to develop better products.
