The iPad 2 will find its way onto store shelves on March 11. When it does, there’s almost certain to be a line out the door of Apple stores to be among the first to get the device that CEO Steve Jobs said “moves the bar far ahead of the competition and will likely cause them to go back to the drawing boards yet again.”
Apple introduced the iPad 2 with all the hype and fanfare that has characterized its product launches for decades, especially in the mobile-device age. The promise of owning what the company calls a “magical device” for browsing the web, reading and sending e-mails, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading e-books, and more is enticing — and that’s the problem.
The Buyer’s Defense
Michael Tsiros, chairman of the marketing department at the University of Miami School of Business Administration, is familiar with consumer behavior, including the role of customer satisfaction and regret in decision-making. As he sees it, consumers may not want to rush out to buy the latest iPad.
“People get too tied up with these purchasing decisions,” Tsiros said. “There are clusters of people who want to be the first to buy something — early adopters — and those who wait until all of the bugs are worked out and it is safe to jump in — laggards.”
His research shows that every consumer is susceptible to regret and the defense mechanism will protect them regardless of what they choose. For example, if consumers bought the iPad and the iPad 2 comes out with great reviews, consumers will discount those new features. The same goes if consumers choose to wait and the new version doesn’t live up to its hype.
“We are geared to recover quickly and to repair our threatened self-esteem due to…