The technology probably did matter, but people don't view it in those terms. What he describes is people testing the "technology", but they certainly don't thin

The technology probably did matter, but people don't view it in those terms. What he describes is people testing the "technology", but they certainly don't think about the materials or the notches. Same's true for software. People don't care about AJAX and clouds. They do care about responsiveness and usable pages. This is not about "back to the basics", this is about advertising. Apart from some "deviants", runners still use the high-tech shoes, not Converse Chucks. And the basic ads about shoes certainly don't focus on tiny tidbits of the technology. Maybe a large catch-phrase ("Torsion", "Pump" etc.), but the rest is aesthethics and athletes...