Prosumer

When a product has more prosumers than consumers, then it must be a sublime product. A customer who customizes a purchase by being involve in production choices is termed as “Prosumer”. When a user masters a device they start having ideas about how to improve or replace it. Either a company builds a relationship with their users and responds to their observations by adding actual useful features to their product, or the prosumer moves on to something useful. I think though that the percentage of users who are enthusiastic enough to customize the product might be so small that it’s easier(more cost effective as the business types might say) to let them go to a more advanced device than to attempt to cater to their desires.

This rant about desires reminds me of a western joke. Let me share it with you:

A man walks into a bar and notices a man who is just a foot tall playing a tiny piano on the bar. Naturally, he asks the bartender what the deal is with the little guy. The bartender says, “Well, I got my hands on this magic lamp that will grant you any wish you want, you just whisper into it and VIOLA…” So naturally, the man grabs the lamp before the bartender can stop him and whispers his wish into it. One million ducks come flying out of the thing and out of every door and window in the bar, feathers everywhere, tables and chairs knocked all over the floor. After the chaos clears, the man regains his feet and the bartender peeks up from behind the bar, the man says “What the crap man! I wished for a million BUCKS, not a million DUCKS?!” The bartender replies, “And I suppose you think I wished for a 12 inch Pianist.”