Early Adopters Pay for Bragging Rights

How to Win Without Being First

As product cycles shrink, however, so do the windows for being first with cool new technology.

Ivan Tam of Milpitas, California, an account manager at a computer reseller, is a veteran early adopter who now closely studies his potential purchases--he has been burned too many times.

Case in point: Tam has purchased three DVRs. He bought a ReplayTV device early on; when ReplayTV stopped making hardware, he bought a TiVo. Now he's using a DVR from his satellite-TV provider. The lesson here is that buying early often means repurchasing.

Tam still buys new gadgets--he got a Nintendo Wii within days of its initial release--but says he's an "early adopter as far as research, but not in terms of buying. I usually wait for the technology to work itself out a little."

Tam is holding off on buying an iPhone until a model that supports 3G cellular networks appears (the current AT&T units support only EDGE, which transfers data at roughly dial-up speeds compared with AT&T's DSL-like HSDPA/UMTS service).

Analysts say another iPhone model may be announced either in time for holiday shopping or at next January's Macworld. But those observers we spoke to believe Apple will try to avoid riling up its loyal user base this time around. Just giving early adopters more time to enjoy their purchase, as Endpoint's Kay notes, could go a long way toward keeping them happy.

But no matter how short product cycles become, some people will always pay more to be early adopters.

"Everyone wants to use the newest, coolest stuff. It's just human nature," iSuppli's Crotty concludes.