eh, i see your point, there is for sure good consumption and supply-demand that spurs innovation, which is great. but on the whole, the way it games out in free (and free-ish) markets is more wasteful and exploitative by far than is healthy, IMHO. I guess the key might involve prices reflecting the real costs of manufacture and disposal beyond the current model of made wherever people/economies are too poor to turn down the jobs and disposed of wherever people are too poor to oppose turning their land into a dump for the freemarket plastic crap that breaks, gets tossed out, and then sits forever.
If consumers were responsible for disposal of what they consume on the property that they themselves own or rent, then the market would demand that products were designed to endure rather than break and bought anew, and people would buy a lot less, impulse-buying and convenience-buying would be curbed greatly. but of course, that is anti-free market socialism.
I think “vote with your dollar” is a useful strategy, but it is a wealthy person’s game–I can’t usually afford to buy the top-tier built-to-last, repairable rather than disposable options. plus, all it takes to get someone (me included) to vote (with dollars or otherwise) against their self-interest is a slick marketing campaign.
but we were talking about iPod cases? it’s all so absurd, this reality.
EDIT: went off on a tangent there–didn’t see you’d emphasized “this” meaning “my design’s” in your post 
