Weekend Open Forum: Are You an Early Adopter?

I think everyone is tired of buying the next big thing, that turns out to be the same as the last big thing.....Smartwatch? ...who wears a watch anymore? DOA....Google Glass? ..Ha, good luck with that....4K television? I'm still waiting for the cable company to provide 1080P resolution.....that my tv has been capable of for at least 5 years....

My friend paid $75.00 USD for a FOUR function calculator. Add, subtract, multiply and divide. Maybe in 1975.

I had a multi-function calculator watch

that cost $25.00 a few years later.

I just bought and received a calculator watch (japan) for $2.00 US and with free shipping (ebay). Did not really need it but for $2 why not. BTW its a really ugly green and all plastic. Wife hates it so I wear it.

I can remember a kid in trig class (wealthy family) that had a HP-65 programmable calculator. Something like $700 or $800 bucks in 1975 money. Was it ever cool! However, with my non-programmable Faber-Castell I would pretty well keep up with his high-tech gadgetry.

As I recall, the instructor decided he couldn't use the HP in exams... Most of us passed, he didn't.

So, that particular early adopter didn't really benefit much at all... made him lazy (IMHO).

<edit> Wiki says the HP-65 was $795 bucks in 1974. Wowza!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-65

I'll take a Bosendorfer imperial grand over than junk any day.

I'm pretty good on the drunk piano....

I'm sure europium is much better

Early adoption has its advantages and disadvantages.

Some Disadvantages are......

- Much higher price

- No guarentee the product will be supported in future or not quickly made obsolete by a better alternative product

- Big, Buggy, clunky and effectively a prototype of what the product will eventually become

Some Reasons (not necessarly advantages) are.......

- I want my new toy NOW!!!!

- Hey everyone, check out my new toy, it is so much cooler than yours!

The smart thing to do is NOT to adopt early, however the early versions pave the way to the eventual product design and pay for the development cycle.

Fortunately the two reasons I have mentioned above are more than enough for the bulk of early adopters. Heck, depending on who is making it, it could catch fire every other day and people would still buy it and justify it to themselves and others.

;)