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  4. Early adopter and late adopter

Glossary

Early adopter and late adopter

Subject areaProcess and organisation

Also known asLate adopterFirst mover

Early adopter and late adopter: An early adopter takes up a technology, a product or a business model first, before it becomes common; a late adopter enters once the path is already open.

For a company, and for a system of companies such as Europe's, these are two innovation strategies, and both are opportunities. The early adopter creates new worlds and takes on the risk of a market that does not exist yet. The late adopter works with hindsight: someone has invented something and opened a path, but the invention still has flaws, so whoever comes next enters with the sturdy, powerful, refined version. It follows that coming second is a choice, and often it is the choice that wins the market. For Europe it means that an opportunity missed as an early adopter can be taken up again as a late adopter, with its own view of the world and the values of the European Union.

An example

The Nabaztag, launched in France in 2005, was a European case of early adoption: it was already a smart speaker (a speaker that talks and listens) a decade before the market asked for one. Apple is often a late adopter: the smartphone already existed in the devices of Research In Motion, later BlackBerry, which had their limits, and the iPhone spread the idea with a sturdier and easier version. In the same way Apple did not invent the computer, it invented a simple way to use one, and so it democratised digital technology.

cc$BY-NCEnrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com

Spotted an inaccuracy or something that needs updating? Write to info@enricogiubertoni.com and help make this glossary a better place.

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