I have always been fascinated with how technology can change our lives. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not. Ask anyone how they liked that new system upgrade at work. Odds are they didn't like it at first. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether that's just fear of change or if the new thing kinda sucks.
Several years ago I came across the concept of "diffusion of innovation". It describes a bell shaped curve that shows the adoption and usage of any new technologies.
The slope of the curve is dependent on a lot of factors. The basic idea is that if the benefits and advantages to the new idea are obvious and tangible the progress will be quick over the curve towards 100% adoption. On the other hand, bad ideas will never make it over the hump and die in the early stages.
I love this notion, because I think it's absolutely correct AND because Apple has had several products that have rapidly moved to the right of the curve- most notably and first in a long line of many superior products- the iPod. What's important to remember is that the iPod was not the first MP3 player. It WAS the first to bring real tangible benefit to people's lives and music listening habits. The other MP3 devices that existed at the time were simply not good enough to get up the left side of the curve. The old ways of transporting music are long gone (thankfully). No more mix tapes from the radio. No more CD wallets on your car visor. No more skipping or scratched CDs. Now, do I get nostalgic about my old cassette mixtapes? Yeah. Will I ever make another one? Nope.
And that's what technology does- it makes us change. Sometime it's for the better- sometimes it's not.
Check back later for my next post - my first official apple news minute prediction...
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And notably…Apple (which I am a nerd about also) has failed to move to the right of the curve for a while…actually, basically since SJ passed. It's hard to stay at the front of the innovation curve…although money allows you to buy upstart new tech from other innovators and put your APPLE logo on it…I think Apple has been stagnant. They could've changed TV consumption and changed how we get/use tv…which was one of SJ's last pet projects. But…cable providers and big production companies could not be united and did not want to go the way of the record labels after iTunes revolutionized music consumption (i.e., Apple now gets a healthy cut of all music sales even though they do not produce music per se).
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