There's the start of a cult of the personality thing going on in the UK technology sphere. Traditionally people have done their research on a gadget before buying it by remarkably old-fashioned means; they look in a magazine, they check online, they ask friends and get a consensus. It's a lot like the business buying process but less formal.
Except now people are starting to turn to celebrities, in particular Stephen Fry. Or so says the BBC's technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones. He believes the Blackberry Storm has been seriously hampered by Fry's antipathy towards it.
This is made doubly confusing by our own Newsguy's reportage which suggests that Mr. Cellan Jones himself is actually the most visible person on the Internet.
It all points, though, to one thing: people would rather read one well-informed source than wade through tons of evaluations. And we shouldn't be surprised. This is the technology industry growing up. In fashion people always follow celebrities. In gadget terms, always assuming we count watches as gadgets, you'll note that Omega is as keen for you to look at Daniel Craig in its advertising as its watches.
We're lucky in this instance that Fry and Jones actually know something about the stuff on which they're commenting. Fashions do change, though, and I'm concerned about who's going to be next. Other than Homer Simpson on TV remotes and a few other obvious candidates, we could be in for some seriously bad advice really soon.