Joining the herd

My university marketing courses regularly referenced the product lifecycle curve. This is a model that categorizes consumers according to the risk they associate with buying a product. According to marketing theory, each group or life stage is defined by shifts in market awareness, profitability, and competition. Those with the lowest risk perception buy the product immediately after its release; they’re called Innovators. Four more distinct groups follow, with the most risk adverse, called Laggards, at the rear. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m an Early-majority consumer, which lumps me in with a third of the general population.


This week, remaining true to my consumer profile, I became the proud owner of an iPhone, Apple’s revolutionary smartphone. Apple unveiled its first iPhone just over two years ago - on January 9, 2007 – and set itself the goal of selling ten million in its first year. It finally hit stores on June 29 of the same year. Since then more than 42 million units have been sold. I’m clearly not an early adopter.

The iPhone is an incredible product. It’s effectively a handheld computer, no heavier than my previous Motorola Razer phone, and only slightly larger. How times have change. I can hardly believe it’s been barely 15 years since I got my first mobile phone and less than a decade for my first laptop. Industry watchers say it cost an estimated US$150 million to develop, spread over a thirty month period.

It’s clearly money well spent. I can take photos, read email, monitor the weather globally, track time zones and surf the web on my iPhone as if I were using a regular computer. I’ve already fallen in love with its location finding application. A couple of taps on the iPhone’s touchscreen brings up a map with your exact location clearly marked. Tap again and you can view a satellite image of the same area, or even a street level image. Amazing. No doubt you’ll see me posting from my iPhone soon.