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The Early Adoption Paradox

These companies routinely screw over their earliest customer base; so how come the adopters keep returning?

Posted 9.4.08 at 12:11 pm 1 Comments

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iPhone
Apple
Apple’s success, more so than any other company I can think of, is built atop the bruised and beaten bodies of early adopters. The most egregious example being, of course, when the company slashed the price of the higher-end first-gen iPhone by $200 a mere two months after its release while simultaneously phasing out the lower-end model. For the folks who’d waited weeks in line for the trinket and paid upwards of $600 for me-first bragging rights, it was a kick in the teeth. And it was these very consumers who’d made the phone a success. Shame on Apple for that one. But, it wasn’t the first or last time the company burned early adopters—by now we’re all familiar with the curse Apple puts on its own first-gen product lines. And yet, the early adopter is always there to take the licks.
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Gadgets
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High Definition DVD
LG
Not too long ago, when early adopters were warring over HD-DVD and Blu-ray, I sat back and let things play out. I really do feel bad for the people who shelled out as much as $1,000 for the modern-day equivalent of a Betamax unit. This was a tough one to call. Unlike the fight for Betamax, which plotted foolish Sony on one side against the rest of the movie industry, it wasn’t clear which horse to place your wager on in the race for optical disc supremacy. HD-DVD versus Blu-ray was a pretty even schism, with tech and entertainment industry giants representing both halves. (For brevity’s sake, let’s skip the argument over whether or not the best format won out in the end. That’s what the comments are for!)
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Gadgets
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1 Comment

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mltavenor

09/05/08 at 3:58 pm

This is where I - and I think the majority of PS3 early adopters - would have to differ on opinion. The launch PS3 is regarded by many as the best version of the console. It has one of the largest hard drives offered (the only larger one is the current 80 gig and if 60 gigs is not enough it's easily upgradable) and hardware supported (i.e. built in Emotion Engine for near perfect PS1 and PS2 title support) backwards compatibility whereas later version relied on software emulation (reliable only up to approx. %85) or as many adopters are complaining about now, no backwards compatibility at all. Plus, more memory card type support. The only real downside as with any new technology was the price - Sony has since launch dropped the price for the PS3.