What Drives Consumer Adoption of New Technologies?

I'm participating in a panel discussion this morning during the offsite of a major media company. They sent me a list of questions in preparation of the event. One of the questions was the title of this post; "What drives consumer adoption of new technologies?".

It's an interesting question and one I've never tried to answer directly in writing. But it's also a question we attempt to answer every day in our firm as we evaluate thousands of new startups every year.

Let's take ten of the most popular new consumer technology products in recent years (with a couple of our portfolio companies in the mix): iPhone (AAPL), Facebook, Wii (NTDOY.PK), Hulu, FlipCam, Rock Band, Mafia Wars, Blogger, Pandora, and Twitter and let's try to describe in one sentence or less why they broke out (feel free to debate the reasons they broke out in the comments):

iPhone - mobile browser with a killer touch screen interface
Facebook - a social net with real utility
Wii - gesture based user interface for gaming
Hulu - your favorite TV shows in a fantastic web UI
FlipCam - a video cam that fits in your pocket comfortably
Rock Band - everyone can be a rock star for a few minutes
Mafia Wars - a natively social game built for social nets
Blogger - a printing press for everyone
Pandora - drop dead simple personalized radio
Twitter - blogging everyone can do in less than a minute

In most of these cases, the breakthrough product or service delivered a new experience to consumers that they had never had before. Sure there were social nets before Facebook, but none allowed you to run your life the way Facebook does for my kids. Sure there were browsers on phones before the iPhone, but there hadn't been one that you could actually use like you use a browser on a computer. Sure there had been personalized internet radio services before Pandora but not one that was drop dead simple and delivered a great experience.

So it seems to me that consumers are driven to new experiences that are simple and useful and/or entertaining. It is not enough to be the first to market with a new technology. You have to be the first to market with a version of the technology that is simple and easy to use.

I'm curious to hear everyone else's thoughts on this. The sooner the better since the panel starts at 10am today.

Comments

[JohnnyGreen:]

I couldn't agree with you more. Its all about the end result experience - simplicity. TiVo and Bose Lifestyle Systems should also be added to your list. Although they're now somewhat older concepts, they still dominate over their competiton for performance, simplicity and long term product value. JohnnyGreen

Jun 09 10:41 AM

[Ricard:]

I think it also needs to deliver a perceived benefit. New technology may sounds fascinating, but if it's not useful, geeky. I think this is why the Iphone is not perceived (too strongly, at least) to be a geek gadget.

Computers had been around for decades before they became a solid consumer product. Once people got around to graphics based word processing (MSWord vs Wordstar) and an OS that did not require programming familiarity/expertise (Windows vs DOS), the computer suddenly flooded every store and household in town.

Jun 09 09:02 PM

[inSearchOfV...:]

I have followed Nintendo stock for some time now. Although, I am not a person who plays video games, the very first time I heard about what the Wii could do I understood that this was a technology that would take the gaming industry by storm. It turned out to be true, everybody was talking about and playing the Wii. What was so special about it? I guess it was what you are talking about. Simple to use and understand but almost miraculous in its application. Playing bowling with your family in the comfort of your home is truly a satisfying experience. Now, lets see what Natal from Microsoft has to offer. I have a position in Nintendo.

Jun 09 10:48 PM