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Technology choices and social signals
At a 2008 London conference, Gartner analyst Nick Jones argued that technology and society developed together, so buyers could value identity and emotion alongside function. The account used Apple and visible iPod headphones as an illustration, and noted that users can repurpose technologies such as prepaid mobile credit.
Details in the 2008 account
It also linked attention to online behaviour and digital distribution with the need to understand different customer groups. This is a record of an analyst’s period view, not a universal rule for present products.