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The Status of What?

Sitting in a café last week appreciating an hour without a set agenda and watching the Shanghai pedestrian traffic drift by. On two separate occasions women walk by with iPhone earbuds pressed into each ear whilst engaged in conversation with friends. Although it's impossible for the mere observer to know whether at that moment they were listening to music it's reasonable to assume from how the ear buds were worn, that their purpose was as a tool to project identity - "I can afford an Apple product therefore I am".

Discussions about the use of the white iPod earbuds as status symbols has been around since the iPod was first introduced (although I've been waiting for the discussion to catch up with the opposite - for some situations where iPods are already mainstream and for audio aficionados the white 'buds are considered pretty passé). It's also recognised that owning the earbuds is a shortcut into the world of everything Apple but is separate from whether you actually own an iPod - the equivalent of having a Porsche keyring but driving a Ford Mondeo. As long as you don't need to handle the device no-one is going to know whether you actually own one - which helps explain why the sales of iPod earbuds in China (reportedly) massively outstrips the sales of devices. What's intriguing about this public status-display that as white 'buds become more mainstream in China whether actual iPod owners feel the need to show or handle the actual device at critical junctures. Thought for today: the role that design e.g. carrying styles or forcing interaction can play in supporting the desire to reveal ownership and patterns of use, particularly as devices shrink and as more of the experience is wrapped up in the service offering.

The re-occurring theme form last last week was cultural interpretation. Whether, how and within what time frame Shanghai can become a global trend setter beyond its own borders. A topic for another day.

Writing from Tokyo | November 18, 2008 | Permalink