Customizing Apple products at Macworld: Tech Culture

[ Music ] ^M00:00:05 [ Background Music ] >> Kara Tsuboi: Silver box, black rectangle, white cube. After a while, all Apple products begin to look alike. >> Well, my wife has one, and we can't tell them apart. >> Almost all my friends have one as well, so it'd be nice to be able to know that that's mine, 'cause we're all pull them out, and we're -- a dozen of them that all look the same. >> Kara Tsuboi: That's why a number of companies at San Francisco's Macworld this year are offering ways to customize those products. >> We're in an era where people want to do tattoos and customize things and have a lot of fun. So it's -- it's kind of like, you know, a tattoo for your, you know, for your portable device. >> Comes in a pack of four different colors and it peels right off. And you can change without any residue at all. And the screen is crystal clear. >> Now that the markets so saturated, everybody and their brother has one of these iPods. It's -- the market's leaning towards -- more towards customization, personalization. And, you know, this, you know, marketing will fit right in. >> Kara Tsuboi: Toronto-based GelaSkins offers phone, MP3, and laptop adhesive skins with designs ranging from the classic to the bizarre in order to appeal to all customers. >> It's really hard to pin down our demographic. I mean everybody from, you know, little Johnny, who's seven years old, to Grandma has an iPod, too. [ Background Music ] ^M00:01:14 >> Kara Tsuboi: If people born in the 1970s,'80s, or '90s are part of the me generation, and some of Apple's most sought after demographic, then it's no stretch to understand the naming of Apple's iProducts. >> Everything that you can do on a Mac just makes it so hey it's all about me. >> Kara Tsuboi: The trend to customize your Apple products takes it one step further. >> It's kind of like an extension of me. I mean, I look at my computer, my iPhone, everything comes from -- it says Leslie [assumed spelling] on it. >> That's part of Apple's style. That's part of Apple's allure. That's what it is about Apple. It's just -- it works, and for everyone. >> It's about personalization and showing your personality through what you're doing in Mac and things like that, so you might as well put it on the actual hardware as well. >> Maybe it's kind of like bling a little bit, like you've got a pretty nice laptop, and that can be sexy. >> I'd rather have one that's more me. So... >> It goes back to, like, when the first Mac came out in '84, you know? And their slogan back in the day "Think different." >> Kara Tsuboi: Since then, Apple has certainly gotten enough people, the main stream, to think different. But they're all thinking alike. I'm Kara Tsuboi reporting for CNET News.com. ^M00:02:25 [ Music ]