How iPhone innovators changed their consumption in iDay2: Hedonic post or brand devotion

Using netnographic evidence on iPhone usage, this study suggests that devoted and innovative consumers adopt and use new technology for hedonic experiences and social positioning, which generates experiential outcomes. This article presents an interpretive analysis of consumption behavior of iPhone users after their experience with iPhone vi and its successive iterations, prior to the release of Apple's latest model the iPhone 4. The day the iPhone vi was released was dubbed iDay1 by Apple brand aficionados, and the anticipated release date of the iPhone 4 iDay2. While the original iPhone v1 was seen as very cutting edge, successive releases (the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS), were far less innovative. Each successive iPhone release has not had as devout a following as the original. This raises the question: will innovation seeking consumers abandon the iPhone for a newer, more technologically innovative device? This study suggests that innovators prefer really new products instead of upgraded ones, because they cannot see the advantage of using an upgraded version of a product which has already been widely adopted. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.