Somewhere between “professionals” and “consumers” lies a demographic called “prosumer”. Marketing types didn’t create this group – it’s always existed. Before the personal computer revolution, prosumers were referred to as “serious hobbyists”. This part of the market, especially in consumer electronics, is getting a lot of attention these days. Why? The lower-end consumer battleground is brutally over-populated and profit margins are infinitesimal if not altogether non-existent. The high-end professional space features high margins but lower volume. So, what’s a poor retailer to do? Shoot for the middle.

So, which one are you - pro, con, or prosumer? Here’s a description of a stereotypical prosumer.

By day, Joan is a successful professional accountant. However, as the sun begins to drop lower in the sky and “golden hour” approaches, Joan’s thoughts go from depreciating assets over time to appreciating this evening’s sunset on Popham Beach, and capturing said sunset with her digital camera. Joan’s job is accounting, but her passion is photography.

Although she doesn’t gain income from her photography, Joan needs more capable (and more expensive, most of the time) tools to pursue her passion. She needs more than a point-and-shoot digital camera, but doesn’t need the high-end single-lens-reflex (SLR) model.

Camera makers happily oblige Joan’s needs. For example, Canon makes the Digital Rebel XT (also known as the EOS 350D), a very capable SLR camera that retails for around $800. It’s the low end of Canon’s prosumer line. At the high end is the Canon 30D, which retails for around $1500. Canon’s true professional digital SLRs start at about $3000, although prices in that niche are starting to drop a bit.

Joan’s “serious hobby” requires prosumer software and computer hardware as well. Neither the editing tools in Apple’s iPhoto or in Windows XP are sufficient for what Joan wants to do to/with her photos. If it didn’t come bundled with her digital camera, Joan spends the extra $100 for Adobe’s Photoshop Elements. Elements gives her roughly 90% of the tools found in the full professional version of Photoshop, at one-sixth the price. Photoshop Elements is a prosumer application, filling a void between iPhoto and Photoshop.

You can apply this prosumer model to just about any other digital pursuit. Music (making and just plain listening). Video. Graphic arts. Writing. You get the picture.

So, what’s a good computer for the prosumer in all of us? Come on, you know the answer.

© 2006 Peter F. Zimowski