Blog#7: Diffusion of Innovation

The Diffusion of Innovation is the theory that seeks to explain how, why and at what rate new ideas and technology spread. In class we made this image pictured here. It shows how innovation develops.    The first phase is the innovators or pioneers, which is the launching phase and the start of the innovation. The second phase is early adopters which means the uptake, the innovation is  starting to incline and reach more people. The next two phases are the early majority which is the tipping point and have opinion leadership in a system. Following that is the late majority, this starts maturation which is when people are adapting to the innovation later than the early majority and lastly, we have the laggards. This is the saturation phase where they are the last to adopt the innovation. 

    The innovation that fascinates me is the mobile phone. For the longest time people had landlines that were only usable in homes. But in 1973 that changed when the first mobile phone was made, allowing you to use it on the go. This first ever mobile phone was huge, it had a tiny screen and buttons that took over the majority of it, not your average size phone you see today. As time went on they got smaller and then turned into a flip phone which then turned into one big screen that we now have. This is the start of the diffusion of this innovation.

    Why was the mobile phone created you ask? The creator Martin Cooper understood that it was a hassle only being able to talk on a landline whether that was from your office job or from home. He wanted to make a phone that was usable on the go. Martin Cooper said in an interview with CNN that “People were absolutely amazed by the fact that you could hold the phone up to your ear, walk around and make a phone call”. This is where you begin to see early adopters and early majority take place. 

    Even though the mobile phone was made in 1973 it wasn’t until 1990 when the invention of the phone took off. So as you see many people did not adapt to the mobile phone till years later causing them to be the late majority and laggards. 

    Although the mobile phone was a great invention and people were amazed, in 1983 the cost of the phone was $3,900 which caused many people not to get it. The majority of people buying the mobile phone at the time were people who truly needed it like doctors or real estate agents. One negative effect Cooper saw was the advancements phones are starting to get. He said in an interview “Phones have gotten so complicated, so hard to use, that you wonder if this is designed for real people or for engineers”. I understand what Cooper is saying but I believe the constant updates with phones is only making the phone better and more accessible.