How can you put the power back into the hands of the people who buy instead of the people who sell?

Why do consumers not push back against exclusivity, contracts, bundles, proprietary accessories and other methods companies use to keep customers loyal to their family of products. Maybe I am crazy, but shouldn't we be able to buy products and services that best fulfill our needs/wants?

I know this is pretty lame but it really is one of the main reasons I joined Square. Commerce has slowly been degrading over the years and consumers are the ones suffering. Square wants to own commerce, for both seller and buyers. This starts with empowering small businesses to operate on the same playing field as Starbucks. Take the exact opposite of that. Apple just created a new phone that is available at AT&T. It's heavily discounted at select places if you buy their overpriced shitty services. Not to mention all those brand new accessories because Apple changed the port... Ugh. Don't even get me started on Direct TV and the NFL Sunday Ticket or any cable provider and the actual content I want to view. </endRant>

I feel the average consumer does not care about exclusivity, contracts, bundles, etc. They are loyal to brands. I got ripped on Twitter because I wasn't impressed with the new iPhone. "You can't improve perfection." One person said. Sure, I bet that's exactly what newspapers thought when the internet came along.

It works for the majority of people because it's part of the good enough economy. "The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine." See the link below.

Once everyone has something, people that don't have it feel lesser. For example, the iPhone 5.

I have a strange attraction to apple products even though I could probably get a cheaper alternative somewhere else.

In my opinion it's all about brand name, and staying "cool".

When people are smart enough to know what we need over what we want - because the supply-side is more than willing to tell us what we want/need based on what they're supplying. And then if the supply-side designs better, thinks better to actually meet those real needs instead of just making stuff up - then we'll at least be heading in the right direction, I think.

Years back I resisted the Apple pull. I rocked several generations of Archos MP3 players to avoid the iPods. I finally gave in and enjoyed the simplicity of managing my music in iTunes. I also like there being one current generation phone that always works with the latest OS.

I never bought into the iTunes sales model though - I didn't want DRM or a brand-specific file type. I get music from Amazon & Rdio.

I think Apple is the exception to the rule. I think we work on a brand hierarchy. If you love Coke, you'd still drink a Pepsi if Coke weren't around. It's like Brand Loyalty by access.

I think when you purchase a good service or product you are essentially signing a contract. What a business thinks they owe the consumer (or vise versa) differs. It feels like companies are falling short on promises/service. As a result, consumers are making bad choices/investments.

Business tactics are hurting business.

Is there anything out there that ranks products like stocks? i don't mean product reviews, but more along the lines of longevity. i.e. if you buy an MBP, how long the average person holds on to it and how much it sells for?

Two things: uninformed consumers and lack of options.

Cell phones are an excellent example. I can obtain one A) from the wireless carrier or B) from eBay. If I buy a Galaxy S III on eBay without a contract, I'm looking at $400-450 out of pocket versus $139 from Amazon with a two-year agreement. The monthly service rates are the same, and the ONLY benefit I gain is avoiding a $350 ETF if I want to change carriers in the next 24 months.

But even if I do, where do I go? Sprint? AT&T? Tmobile? Those are basically my only four options and the plans are, for the most part, similarly priced. How do I take the power back in this case, just not use a cell phone?

Service providers have the power, and too many of them have too little competition.

interesting point david. i forgot the name of the mobile provider, but there is one out there that you only pay for the minutes you use, regardless of the monthly plan (and it's a month-to-month deal)

All the recent mergers and acquisitions (Suncom, Nextel, Alltel, Cingular, etc. in the case of the mobile industry) are killing the ability of the consumer to vote more diversely with their wallets. This is EXACTLY why we need more disruptive technologies like Google Fiber. Without the occasional something that will come along and kick the collective ass of every other company in the industry, everyone else will continue to operate the same way they always have.

And Morgan, while that sounds great, companies like that usually have the worst phones to choose from. Go to mycricket.com and look at their smartphone offerings. They're terrible! The smaller providers usually have weaker infrastructure on the back end, also.

This is an interesting conversation. Thanks for starting it and letting me in, Will. We must all be Americans, because nobody is bringing up the elephant in the room, which is consumer protection laws. The EU, for example, takes consumer protection (europa.eu) more seriously than we do in the States. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is up to you, but it's worth noting that technology and business aren't the only potential routes to empowering consumers.

@David forgets that you are voting with your wallet when you choose a better device from a "worse". He's saying "I'd rather have a better device with less control over my contract than a worse device with more control." Of course, dumb phones still exist and are still being sold by major carries.

@Jeremy is voting by buying DRM free MP3 files from Amazon, not iTunes, despite Amazon embedding identifying data into MP3 files that includes purchase history, cloud upload history and information about modifications to the file. Of course, CDs and DVDs still exist.

I don't understand how this is not power to the consumer. As the Economist points out, the only reason we are all upset is because we expect the perfect choice to exist.

@Braden: For what it's worth, I strip that identifying metadata from MP3s. It's easy, but not something the general public would do.

@Jeremy: I wasn't trying to say something about your choice as much as I was trying to say that there are plenty of choices to make.

In the case of Apple/Amazon's handling of licensing and ownership of digital content, consumers have voted in favor of easy discovery and instant access, even if it means giving up some personal information. If consumer's didn't like those choices, they could pay cash for a CD and companies (sellers) would change their model. I think that idea could be applied to just about any situation on this topic.