Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of being an early adopter of new technologies.

State-of-the-art technology has dramatically impacted a wide range of issues ranging from economy to culture in different nations. There is still no general consensus on pros and cons of being an early adopter of cutting-edge technological breakthroughs as it can have as many advantages as disadvantages.

With regard to plus points, early adopters of modern equipment are likely to take advantage of having access to what may or may not be accessible to others in coming years, meaning they are one step ahead of their potential rivals. An illustration of this is all commercial enterprises that pioneered the field of artificial intelligent and virtual reality. Had they not taken the lead, they would not be market leaders. Moreover, first buyers of cool and awesome gadgets might be entitled to special terms and conditions in exchange not only for dealing with the bugs that most early-stage products have but also for their word-of-mouth marketing for a new device that might bolster its reputation.

Nevertheless, those who order newest high-tech gadgets as soon as they are released run the risk of paying maximum price that the product will ever be worth. Indeed, despite the fact that they are being charged exorbitantly, they would rarely be able to fetch the same price were they to resell it. Furthermore, early adopters might fall victim to an overhyped release whether it is a PC game or a high-tech gadget. In other words, the product may not be what they expected it to be that explains why as an early adopters, you are probably shooting in the dark. The last but not least, when new innovations come onto the scene, they are bound to come with compatibility issues that can prove inconvenient at best or unusable at worst. For example, when USB 3.0 first came out, it required a new port.

To sum it all up in one word, it would be uncertainty. I personally am willing to concede early adoption would appear more like a desperate gamble and I am not the one who takes it.

Hamid Mollazadeh

Time: 55′

Word count: 345