Early Adopters vs Mass Market
Early adopters are different from mass market customers.
Being an early adopter is often thought of as a good thing, but in reality it’s not always.
The people who are the early adopters often have a lot more influence than they probably should, because of the fact that they bought something before everyone else.
If you look at your friends, there’s a good chance that you know someone who bought something simply because it was new and it was different, regardless of whether or not it was actually good.
A perfect example of this is the iPod.
The iPod was revolutionary and changed the way people listen to music.
But it wasn’t perfect.
The ear buds could be uncomfortable.
The menu systems were a little confusing, and there were problems with the battery life of the thing.
But, because of the early adopters, these problems didn’t get worked out until after they’d already sold millions of units.
Another example is the early adopters of Microsoft Windows Vista.
Being an early adopter can also be dangerous.
In the case of Microsoft Vista, early adopters bought a good product that ended up not being perfected yet.
As such, they were vulnerable to hackers and problematic hardware.
You can’t really blame them, because they wanted to try something new and exciting.
If you don’t adopt something early, you’re not an early adopter, you’re just someone who’d rather wait until it’s perfected before you spend your hard earned money on it.
Early adopters can also end up having to pay more for something that they would end up not liking if they’d waited.
For instance, the first versions of Microsoft Windows were a lot cheaper than the current version, but you’d have ended up hating it in no time.
The same thing happened with the original iPods and Dr. Dre’s Beats headphones.
People paid a premium price (in these cases over USD 200) for something that would have been better if it had been perfected.
Put it in another way – the early adopters are often people who spend a lot money on things that haven’t been perfected yet.
Because they do this, they often have a lot of influence on what’s going to be made.
However, on the other hand, mass market consumers don’t always have as much influence because they’re not always willing to spend as much money.
It’s a risky business, being an early adopter, because sometimes you’ll end up with a product that’s not 100% and you could end up regretting it.
Therefore, it’s highly recommended to wait until the product you want is perfected before you pick it up.
But, if you want to be an early adopter, or you’re passionate about a product or service, it’s probably a good idea to get the word out about what you’re interested in and share how much you love it.
If enough early adopters are interested in something it will usually improve faster which means that mass market consumers will be able to buy a better product without paying as much money for it.