Flashes of Panic

I have a small stack of retired technology next to my desk, waiting for me to develop the momentum to list it all on eBay. One of the boxes is a Belkin broadband router, not a wireless one, just a standard four-port ethernet router of the variety everyone had in the days before pervasive wireless.

I only just noticed that the design on the box includes a small photo of a similarly-shaped Belkin wireless router, with the heading, “Consider Wireless” and caption, “Extend your network to different floors and rooms—without cables.”

The thing I find remarkable about this is that to someone picking this box up in a store, the message is, “No, not this one, try that other router.” I’m sure the price for the wireless router was higher (and possibly the margin for Belkin as well) but the idea of putting text on product packaging which actively encourages potential customers to buy something different feels backward to me.