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This begs the question, will we ever value certain pieces of technology in the same way we value a house, or a car, as a longer term investment that you pay qua

This begs the question, will we ever value certain pieces of technology in the same way we value a house, or a car, as a longer term investment that you pay quality for, so you don't have to go back and buy again? People balk at paying more than $1k for a phone, but most people would assume you're scamming them if you sold them a new car for $5k. That said, I don't agree with the pricing of this: In an immature market where the difference between a high/low end product isn't discernable, trying to get someone to pay a large amount of money just to bet on it isn't a great idea.

setr 9y ago
> This begs the question, will we ever value certain pieces of technology in the same way we value a house, or a car, as a longer term investment that you pay quality for, so you don't have to go back and buy again? It's only just recently you can buy a computer and not expect to replace it in 2-3 years. Not just by the fact things break, but that everything would have moved far passed you by then. Obviously it doesn't make sense for people in general to value technology as a long-term investment, when the technology itself isn't even remotely long-term (at the consumer level). But obviously too, when technology stabilizes, and we stop seeing absurd improvements over short units of time, then it'll naturally progress to longer -term value. When you can't sell on dramatically better features, then you'll sell for reliability, consistency and durability. Or you'll lock it down, strangle/monopolize the market, and add features on your own clock, hopefully postponing the plateau far into the horizon we'll see
- maruhan2 9y ago
  Ironically though, equipment that is supposed to last a long time and hasn't progressed that much over the years are lasting shorter. Examples are cars, microwaves, fridges, washing machines, etc. Recent cars for example on average malfunction quicker than ones 20 years ago. So in that sense, technology that does not progress fast does not necessarily improve reliability
  - FrozenTuna 9y ago
    You're wrong about cars. They might need more specialized maintenance, but they are much better than they were 20 years ago. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cars-now-last-longer-than-ever-will-yours/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cars-now-last-longer-than-ever-...

setr 9y ago

> This begs the question, will we ever value certain pieces of technology in the same way we value a house, or a car, as a longer term investment that you pay quality for, so you don't have to go back and buy again? It's only just recently you can buy a computer and not expect to replace it in 2-3 years. Not just by the fact things break, but that everything would have moved far passed you by then. Obviously it doesn't make sense for people in general to value technology as a long-term investment, when the technology itself isn't even remotely long-term (at the consumer level). But obviously too, when technology stabilizes, and we stop seeing absurd improvements over short units of time, then it'll naturally progress to longer -term value. When you can't sell on dramatically better features, then you'll sell for reliability, consistency and durability. Or you'll lock it down, strangle/monopolize the market, and add features on your own clock, hopefully postponing the plateau far into the horizon we'll see

maruhan2 9y ago
Ironically though, equipment that is supposed to last a long time and hasn't progressed that much over the years are lasting shorter. Examples are cars, microwaves, fridges, washing machines, etc. Recent cars for example on average malfunction quicker than ones 20 years ago. So in that sense, technology that does not progress fast does not necessarily improve reliability
- FrozenTuna 9y ago
  You're wrong about cars. They might need more specialized maintenance, but they are much better than they were 20 years ago. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cars-now-last-longer-than-ever-will-yours/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cars-now-last-longer-than-ever-...