My life as an Early Adopter
April 19th, 2009 | Published in Blog | 4 Comments
My name is Henrik, and I’m an Early Adopter.
I don’t see being an early adopter as part of a competition to be first with new stuff. I’m just curious and can’t help that I want to try out and learn new things all the time. And I don’t buy new things until I am convinced that they are useful to me.
It is not an easy life being an early adopter, I don’t recommend it. An old wild west quote: “Pioneers are the ones with arrows in their backs!” And it is usually not the early adopters that make the money.
But I am proud of having adopted several important trends very early and my gut feelings for applications and functions are often accurate, both for successes and lemons.
Interactive media: I became a pioneer when I started the company Ahead Multimedia in 1988.
Elearning: I created an international award-winning elearning program in 1991, and in 1999 I worked in the US with an online elearning portal about parenting.
PDA’s and smartphones: I switched from paper calendars in 1993 and started enjoying mobile email in 2002.
The cloud: To me this is probably the most important shift in computing ever, moving from local files and applications that are locally stored in your computer to storing and running them online. I started using online word processing in 2005 and immediately felt that this was the future of easy and collaborative computing.
Some milestones:
1986 My first Mac, a 512K, what a difference! Used it with PageMaker 1.0 to produce course materials about script writing and print them on my Laserwriter Plus. A SEK 100.000 investment that paid off! I had previously worked a lot with computers such as the Swedish Luxor ABC800.
1990 I bought my first mobile phone, a brick-sized Ericsson Hotline NMT 450, it cost SEK 17.000 and the battery lasted for an hour or two, but it was good to be mobile!
1993 I discovered an new type of magazine that attracted me at the London Design Museum. It was called Wired and wrote about technology and society in a new way. I have been a subscriber ever since. Here is the premiere issue from march 1993, still hanging on my kitchen wall.
1993 Newton Messagepad. Bught it on the launch day Aug 2 at MacWorld expo in Boston. But I saw its limitations and never fell in love with it.
1996 Palm Pilot Professional, a revolutionary PDA at this time. An instant hit with me.
1997 Joined Six Degrees, the first social media network service.
1998 Worked with Groove Networks, an early online project tool.
1999 I was a customer the first day at Letsbuyit.com. I bought a Palm V PDA, and immediately realized that Letsbuyit would become a flop. But the investors did not think so, so they spent 2 billion SEK before it crashed… But I loved my Palm V for a long time!
2000 Ericsson R320 (the first WAP mobile, very slow and clumsy…)
2001 Tested online dating and predicted it would become big since I felt it was very efficient.
2002 Dec I bought Sony Ericsson P800 smartphone on its launch day, immediately liked having mobile email.
2004 Feb Bought a Wayfinder GPS for my P800 and enjoyed having navigation in my pocket.
2005 May, started my blog here on alfabravo.com
2005 June, discovered YouTube and felt that it was going to become a big hit since it was so easy to use.
2005 Aug, I started using the beta version of the online word processor application Writely. They were acquired by Google in March 2006 and turned into Google Documents, which I have been using heavily ever since.
2005 Started using LinkedIn as a business networking tool, still use it every day.
2006 Joined Facebook
2007 April, bought a Nokia N95 on its launch day. Liked the integrated GPS and the camera.
2007 Oct, bought an iPod Touch, a milestone in mobile web surfing and video play. (Using it has helped me resist buying an iPhone, will wait for the 3rd generation, for a change.)
2007 Started using Jaiku microblog, they were acquired by Google in Oct 2007. It is still the best microblog service I think, but sadly neglected now.
2008 Started using Twitter and Bloggy microblogs. I have a strong feeling that microblogs will evolve quickly the next few years. We will laugh in 2011 at Twitter of 2009!
And I have a strong feeeling that this is just the beginning, we ain’t seen nothing yet!
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April 19th, 2009 at 17:35 (#)
So basically, this calendar of sorts states that you started out a quite an early adopter, but then you have been beginning to lag behind? I mean, you still don’t have an iPony? And you’ve been arriving late to the party of Jaiku and Twitter.
Another dimension is of course what perspective to have on early adopting: You bought the P800 on it’s launch day in 2002, but Nokia had better smartphones than that in its Communicator back in the Nineties.
So, should one stick to brand or category?
Also, the Mac was out in -84, but you waited until -86, is that early? Seems like you did the same then as you’re doing with the iPhone, maybe it’s about your relationship with Apple?
April 19th, 2009 at 20:21 (#)
I have seen quite a few of those items in my possession myself. I really liked the Palm and was sad to see that it took them a long time to get mobile – and now I have lost the faith in the brand and don’t care about the product.
I believe that we create a strong emotional bond to our things and services, and emotions are not rational. So I stuck to my palm a long time, tried to extend it’s life etc, I got the keyboard, and tried to make it work as my ultimate travel companion. but alas….
My conclusion is that the early adopter behaviour (that is a part of me as well) is surely a quest for new techniques and a celebration of innovation, However, is an early adopter not just someone falling in love again, and again, and again. A romantic explorer! Voting with the hart and disappointed every time logic shows him that some things just don’t click…
April 20th, 2009 at 10:10 (#)
Your post brought to a smile to my face and revoked memories. It is interesting that you write that it is not about being first, it is about curiosity. I agree to most of your statements, since I tested at least the mid part in the same order. I do not agree with “Let’s buy it” though, I did not see it’s fall immediately. I loved the service and was was disappointed when it did not work out. One of the few “browse-around-shopping-experiences” I really enjoyed on the net. I bought several products I had absolutely no clue that I wanted, like example a designed juice machine or a safety set for my car (with a foldable shovel, a mini axe and a super-sized maglite)!
April 20th, 2009 at 12:55 (#)
Martin: About Letsbuyit: It was marketed as the ultimate online store with the lowest prices due to cooperative buying. But I wanted to buy a Palm V, and on letsbuyit.com I was given a price interval, depending on the number of peopel that ordered it within a 2-week period. I did not like not knowing what the price would be and having to wait for weeks.
By using Pricerunner search I quickly discovered that I could buy the Palm V at other online estores at a price slightly below the lowest price at Letsbuyit. And get it immediately!
So then there was no benefit left for me of using Letsbuyit. This made me feel that the letsbuyit model would not become a huge success and the thin margins definitely did not justify spending so much investor money.