The cell phone can easily be one of the longest product adoptions. The cell phone was created by a Motorola engineer named Martin Cooper in 1973 (almost 50 years 49 to be exact). Most if not everyone has used a phone if if it was a cell phone or a landline phone. It's interesting to see that only 97% of people use a cell phone and 85% of people use a smartphone as of 2021.
I've heard stories from my teachers about their first cell phone. One of my middle school teachers told me that she used to carry the Motorola Dynatac in her car. I also remember a few of the older Middle school teachers I had who did upgrade to an iPhone (iPhone 4 or 4s to be exact) but for some reason were stuck on iOS 6 and told me not to touch a thing or else you'll mess it up like most oder iPhone users would say at the time. I knew 3 teachers that were stuck on iOS 6. One of my High School said that she would never get an iPhone and was one of those laggards that still used a flip phone to it's fullest capabilities. She wanted to make it clear to all her students that she still used a flip phone. She did carry an android smartphone one time I saw her but It was a smartphone I couldn't;t tell the model of. In my senior year that same teacher told me that she got an iPhone 7 from a raffle she won and had switched completely to an iPhone.
When the cell phone first came out only people who could afford a $4000 cell phone would go out and buy one. They were mostly for high end business people who couldn't be away from a phone line. for the Smartphone and it's ever so slightly changes year after year I would say that tech reviewers and product annalysts are among the first to upgrade to the newest model. These are the people who would test out the products and write reviews for the consumer's who are planning on upgrading.
Next comes the early adopters. cell phones at the beginning of their time didn't have many early adopters due to the high price. During the 80's when phones started to come out business men and women were among the first people to have a cell phone as they were out of the house often. Many housewives wanted to make sure that their husbands were safe at all times which is why one member of the family usually the working member carried a cell phone to communicate with the other members of the family via the house phone. The early adopters of the smart phone are the people who can afford to upgrade their phone yearly due to their plan or work. The early innovators are snobs because they like to brag abut being the first person to own x phone. They're in your face about it and I don't like that. They're also the people who are the first to go out and buy the next generation smartphone that has the new features rather than upgrade to a phone that only ads speed improvements.
The early majority is the group of people what bought a cell phone when they were starting to become popular. The 90's saw a lit of early majorities buying cell phones as many people were out and about and wanted to know where their family members were at all times. The early majority of smartphones happened during the period when apple was selling the iPhone 4 and 4s which was my first phone. I remember everyone who had a iPhone 4. My teacher's and family members all had an iPhone 4. the iPhone 4 was affordable for most people who were ready to upgrade but not for the people who didn't want to learn a new operating system and a new phone. Some people,e in the early majority had the idea that their smartphone would last them as long ad=s their pervious cell phone did. My uncle who travels and lives internationally used an iPhone 4 until 2017 while his partner continuously upgraded his iPhone. He was one of those people who were stuck in the iPhone 4 time period. If you talk to someone about their first smartphone they will probably say that their first smartphone was the iPhone 4 as the newest iPhones remind people of the iPhone 4 days with their squarish body.
The late majority of cell phone users are those who only owned a smartphone and never really felt the need to own a cell phone. The late majority took off big time with the iPhone 6. The iPhone 6 was best seller iPhone to this day as apple sold the most iPhone 6's. My uncles and aunts had one, friends, parents friends and even my parents had one except for me who was fine with my 4 and saw no need to upgrade as it still continued to work and receive updates perfectly fine. many older people in their 60's who were hesitant to buy an iPhone felt confident enough to buy an iPhone at this time. What makes me laugh is that the government was giving away phones in 2014 to anyone who supported Obama.
The laggards today are the people like my grandparents who still do not have a cell phone. Both my grandmothers do not have a cell phone because one lives in senior living and one can't stand technology and wants to "through it out the windows" if my grandfather ever dies because the does not want to learn it. All she knows is her little plasma TV and her rotary pone. if you try and take those away from her and upgrade them she gets all angry and complains that they do now rock and that they are a piece of shit. There are other laggards in the sense that they they owned a cell phone but never upgraded and now became dated. My grandfather used to work as an electrician the bell telephone company but never owned a cell phone for the longest time because he never felt he needed one. He got a cell phone that he used for the longest time as he felt it did the job but was hesitant to learn new technology and always was afraid to break it. When he upgraded to the iPhone SE 2 in 2021 he often asked for help as he thought every button he pressed would do something and possibly break the phone. He still does not know that anyone can help him with his phone as everyone nows how to use one and does not need to come back to us for help. If you're still a laggard that does not own a cell phone more importantly a smartphone you're behind as cell phone booth are no longer around and their is no way to get in contact with someone without having a cell phone when you are traveling or in public.
No comments:
Post a Comment