12 DECEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 382
RANTS&RAVES
ITBEGAN,ASit often does, with an argument. Smartphones are
status symbols, argued myfellow enthusiast; owning the latest and
most powerful model, or at least being seen using it, would raise
your station in theeyes of tech cred arbiters and grant you
opportunities otherwise closedoff.
This stance is sillyforavariety of reasons, but the joke’s on him:
not only has he now been paraphrased inamildly uncomplimentary
manner,but he’s also rekindled my loveforseveral ageing and
underpowered devices from my past. Noneof these would have
enhanced my schmoozing capability withfarcooler or more
influential people,but the yremain testamentsto how seemingly
soulless gadgets can become treasured mementos.
Case in point: my Samsung NC10. Boughtforabout £300–a
relative pittanceeven in 2008–and smaller than my hand span, the
NC10 nonetheless provedto be atrusty companion that managedto
Whetherit’sold-fashioned tillsinh igh-street shopsorv enerable mobile phones,
sometimes theold waysarestillthebest
RANTS&RAVESS& S
see me through universityeven after an ill-advised
installationof Windows Vista. It’stelling that, after
retiring itforsome Acer ultraportableIended up
hating, Icouldn’t bearto part with the NC10, and kept
it in various cupboards likeafamily photoalbum.
Similarly,itt ook about seven years before Icould
bear to disposeof an old HTC Wildfire–myfi rst proper
Android smartphone–and that certainly never impressed
anyone worth impressing. What it did do,much like the NC10, was
provideareliable constant though severaleventful years: the
moves, the latenights in libraries, the friendships and the breakups,
it was always there,and readyto do its job.Everything starts as a
mere product–atool –but don’t underestimatethe powerof
formed attachmentsover fashion andforced obsolescence.
Even my current handset,aGoogle Pixel 2,feels as if it’s getting
long in thetooth, but as bothawork aid andasocial sidekick it’s
alreadyservedfaithfullyenoughto havepre-emptivelyearnedaspot
in the storage drawerof fame.Iwon’t be upgrading before it starts
to fa lter ,and that’s not outof monetary concerns oradeliberate
aversion to the ‘prestige’ofh aving something newer and shinier.
Never be ashamedto stick with something just because you like
it, as whether it’saphone,laptop ,tablet, camera or anything else,
there will be many like it–but that one is yours.
THELASTWEEKof September was another sad weekforthe UK
high street.Travel operator Thomas Cook went outof business
after 178 years, leaving holidaymakers stranded and thousandsof
people outof ajob.This wasfollowed by Sainsbury’s announcing it
was closing 70 Argos stores, leadingto hundredsof job losses.
The blame was placed partly on the internet.Retailers areoften
accusedof failing to shift their businessover to the worldof online
fast enough, and so digital competitors are lefttoc ash in.
But even when high-street companies tryto capitalise on the
latest technologies, it doesn’t always go their way. Earlier this year,
Sainsbury’s refurbished its Holborn storeto remove the checkout
area. Rather than queuing atatill, customers hadto download an
app to their phone,scan items as theywent round the store and
then pa yfor them through their handset.
No doubt the supermarket’s digital experts were
thrilled with the whole concept, excited at the notion
of setting shop assistants free from behind their tills
to instead help customers on the shop floor (although
I’m sure the prospectof job cuts mayhavealso
crossed their minds) andtech-savvy millennials
swanning around the store waving their iPhones.
But it didn’t turn out that way. Instead, customers were
stuck in long queues at the helpdesk as people attemptedto pay
fortheir groceries using cash oracard. So Sainsbury’s has ended up
paying to have some tills put back intothe store,and will probably
not be running any other till-free experiments any time soon.
What Sainsbury’s learnt the hard wayist hat even in theface of
internet shopping, there’s stillareal needforahigh street with
grocers, banks and other servicesforthose who wantto paycash or
go in and talkto an actual human.Perhaps the bricks and mortar
companies would do well talkingto firms such as Amazonto get
tips on technology systemsto invest in, oreven teaming up with
their online competitors–myl ocal Co-op is an AmazonLocker
point, meaning there’s an extra reasonto pop int othe storeeven
foravid internet shoppers. It’s certainlyamuch more sensible useof
space and investment than mobile tills nobody wantsto use.
JamesArcher
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Madeline BennettMadel ine Benne ttMadel ine Benn
