BS: Spoilt for choice

Subject: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 02:21 PM

Sometimes I get fed up with "choice".

Right now I'm looking for a replacement for a camera I bought a few months ago that's gone missing. No, I'm not asking for suggestions - it's confusing enough without that. It's just that this has rerminded me of a grumble.

Of course they don't stock the camera I bought back in July, just loads of marginally different cameras. Well, I can understand wny different manufacturers might come up with their own modesl, that's about competition and so forth. But why does the individual manufacturer always seem to come up with a whole range of shifting models that aren't that different, but just different enough to confuse matters. Choice that gets in the way of choosing.

The same thing happens just about every kind of technological item - notably computers of course. And often it's not even a question of the same models being upgraded, which might make some kind of sense.

All this gets in the way of real choice, and must jack up the prices. Why it must even cut into the profit margin, which you'd think would be the bottom line for the manufacturers. And I suspect for a lot of peoiple it actually puts us off buying - if I was shopping for a better camera, rather than for a replacement, I'd be very likely to say "Blow this for a game of soldiers", and carry on using what I had and perhaps buy something else instead.

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: ranger1
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 02:25 PM

I have to agree with you here. Standing in the supermarket aisle and looking at toothpaste always makes me wonder why we need 100 different kinds, all of which do essentially the same thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: Wesley S
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 02:27 PM

I've noticed that the cell phones in our family all have unique chargers that only work on your phone - they arn't interchangeable. Grrrr...

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 02:34 PM

Well, that kind of thing, non-interchangeable connectiosn and so forth is intended to keep you loyal to the brand. It's irrational because while it might hold on to existing customers it discourages the others, but in a short-term way it makes sense.

But excessive numbers of variants from the same company, I just can't see how that makes any sense at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 02:49 PM

I was looking at toothpaste just yesterday.

There was "whitening" but not "yellowing", luminous (I assume your teeth will glow in the dark), "cool mint" but not "hot pepper"....

I just want to get my teeth clean and give them a touch of fluoride at the same time.

And what ever happened to tooth powders?

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: ranger1
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 02:52 PM

Rap, try places that specialize in hiking and backpacking supplies. I'm pretty sure I've seen something of that ilk...

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: Michael
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 03:39 PM

Wesley: I read in the newspaper last week that phone manufacturers ARE working towards having a common charger connection. Aye but when?

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 04:40 PM

It's not so much the different chargers for different pieces of equipment, it's the fact that I have to pay extra for each and every bloody lead that will only fit in one variety of socket. My phone has a mains charger lead, a car charger lead, a data download lead and none of them fit any other phone or piece of equipment.

Even my bloody iPod thing uses a different, non-standard headphone jack and we all know how long the average pair of in-earphones lasts.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: GUEST,Seiri Omaar
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 04:55 PM

Same deal here- I lost my laptop power cord while traveling a few months ago and had to call the company directly because not only is the power cord unique to the company, but unique to the model. Ugh.

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: Leadfingers
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 08:26 PM

Try getting info on a Bluetooth connection when you havent got the packaging from six months ago ? Even the company that sold it cant help me despite sending them EVERY word that is on the Dongle !!

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 08:32 PM

This is all so very true -- I sometimes am so overwhelmed by the multitude of choices I finish up deciding not to decide...; it's awful. My phone takes pictures - I don't know how to do it but it does; my kids want to text message me -- heavens, they can just CALL my cell phone can't they!!! I don't need a phone to take a picture -- I would prefer it were just a phone (a cheaper one would be nice)

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: Pistachio
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 02:16 PM

You are not alone.
Trouble I have is grabbing the correct cable for the 'equipment' I'm powering.... so I've got a 'dymo' label maker and stick my name on my plugs - and info if it's phone,camera,PDA etc. Also helpful for my husband who left his charger in a hotel.... the staff could recognise the lead HE left behind from the multitude of others in lost property. (No dymo! use tippex or sticky labels.)
H.x

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 03:48 PM

My phone is used as a telephone. It doesn't take pictures, although I COULD access the Internet with it if I wanted to pay through the nose to view things on an tiny screen.

I have a camera and a computer monitor.

My cell phone is a telephone.

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 09:36 PM

I didn't know the damn thing was a camera as well until after I bought it --- just looks like a regular phone to me..........! (then I remember when first I was introduced to a cell phone camera by one of my kids friends commenting on how small the film must be.....they looked at me so pityingly and pointed out it was digital......I'm too oldfashioned for this world.....

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 11:10 PM

After spending three years attempting to get a straight story out of my only available provider, I finally felt confident (gullible?) enough to jump into high speed internet. Two and half hours on a "chat line" confirmed (mostly) that they finally were willing to quote a price and (maybe) stick to it, and identifed most of the "oh-by the way" charges.

An additional almost-hour running through the "shopping cart" deal on the internet to place the order - terminating with:

"We're sorry, but due to a technical problem we are unable to complete your order online. Please call our office at 1-800-XXX-XXXX between the hours of 1:00 and 1:15 Monday thru Tuesday to complete your order."

Well, if I HAD a high speed connection it probably wouldn't have taken so long, and they might have been able to close the deal, but ...

They do offer 11 different "plans" with different gotchas. Wanna bet I get a bait-n-switch deal when I call?

John

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 05 Dec 07 - 10:12 AM

John in Kansas:

"We're sorry, but due to a technical problem we are unable to complete your order online. Please call our office at 1-800-XXX-XXXX between the hours of 1:00 and 1:15 Monday thru Tuesday to complete your order."

The orderly processes of the universe being what they are, I get this kind of message (even when the hours quoted are real business hours) only after 5:00 p.m. or on weekends.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 Dec 07 - 12:49 PM

There are two fundamental reasons for manufacturers to market multiple versions/products: a)the lower-priced versions exist to make the higher-piced versions more appealing and b) the more shelf space any manufacturer can occupy, the greater the sales for that manufacturer.

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 05 Dec 07 - 01:29 PM

a)the lower-priced versions exist to make the higher-priced versions more appealing Works the other way round for me. But I suppose it's the same principle.

As for (b) The easiest way to achieve that might be be just to make each of the items in lots of different colours.

There's a sort of unspoken assumption that the people who make these decisions are competent and rational. I think in fact that's a highly questionable assumption. As true of business as it is of politics.

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 05 Dec 07 - 10:19 PM

The DSL "web" that's the target market for the system I was (maybe still may be) considering spans three time zones. There's no way to tell which time zone the "800" number was in. They didn't say.

I did call once today, but got a busy signal. Maybe the night guard was talking to his girlfriend in Tijuana, or New Delhi.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: folk1e
Date: 06 Dec 07 - 08:44 PM

It is the "Treadmill Effect"!
One manufacturer decides that they will "improve" their product and by keeping both the new and old product on the shelves gain a market advantage over their competitor(s). Their competitors see what has just happened and decide to rush their new product off the drawing board (before all those nifty improvements are all working) to draw level again. Pressure mounts and soon everyone is on the treadmill!


Anyone want to buy my new Super Hyper Duodecacored Pentium with the Polyphonic Whistle and Nano scale Ultra Bright Plasma Screen?

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 07 Dec 07 - 04:23 PM

I like the idea of different coloured leads.

I stick parcel labels on mine, so it sticks out from the lead and I can tell at a glance which piece of equipment it's for. If only they did my phone leads in orange... but that would mean no surreptitious charging of telephones under the desk in the anonymous pile of cables stashed there.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: ranger1
Date: 07 Dec 07 - 04:43 PM

Being the little video game junkie that I am, I own lots of different systems. None of the power cables will fit any of the others. I had to resort to tying color-coordinated embroidery floss to each power cable, along with a floss-bobbin with the name of the game system written on it in the same color.

Subject: RE: BS: Spoilt for choice
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Dec 07 - 05:32 PM

I suspect that it might in fact work out a lot better for a company to limit its range of models quite sharply, and rely on the appetite for upgrading to the "improved and upgraded version" periodically, rather than the scattergun approach that seems to apply.

It's a great pity the people running companies that make these expensive toys aren't in the same league of competence in doing what they do as the people who design the toys themselves.