How to Decide Whether to Purchase a "New Technology" Product

Should you buy a flat-panel monitor, a DVD-A or SACD player, a digital television, digital Internet service (DSL, cable, satellite), or other purportedly better consumer technologies? If so, should you be an "early adopter," or should you wait for widespread public acceptance of the product, lower prices, and removal of bugs? How should potential obsolescence influence your purchase?

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• SACD Players
• Digital Modems

1. Remember all the consumer products that failed to become popular, such as DCC (digital compact cassette), remote controls for computers, Internet telephones, and DIVX DVD players.

2. Remember all the consumer products that only sold for a few years because they were superceded by better technology, such as 8-track cartridge players, laser disc players, and Commodore computers.

3. Remember all the good technologies that were squeezed out by superior marketing strategies by manufacturers of competing technologies, such as Betamax VCRs and dbx noise reduction.

4. Consider the convenience and ease-of-use of the new product; these factors usually prevail over quality in the marketplace (for example, digital answering machines have inferior voice quality but are easier to deal with).

5. Think about retail changes necessary for a product to succeed. For example, will stores need to stock redundant software titles, and are they likely to do so?

6. Find out how much software is available, if the product uses removable software (such as DVD-ROMs). Decide if you can buy enough software now to justify your investment.

7. Find out what technologies will compete with the one that interests you, and which is likely to be better.

8. Look for reasons why the technology might be flawed, or too gimmicky or complex to succeed.

9. Evaluate the quantity of advertising and marketing. Decide if promoters of the new technology are marketing it aggressively enough to ensure its success.

10. Evaluate manufacturers' ability to control the marketplace. Analyze if they can discontinue production of one product (such as vinyl records) to force the success of another (such as CDs).

11. Make sure that several manufacturers will introduce products, and that the original manufacturer will license the technology to competitors.

12. Expect the first products to market will lack the performance quality and features of the next generation.

13. Remember that prices will be high until product sales warrant mass production - if that happens.

14. Make sure the product does what you want it to do, and that a more functional product (for example, one that will record as well as play) isn't on the horizon.

Tips & Warnings

• Your knowledge of an innovative manufacturer's track record can be a deciding factor.
• New digital technologies are superior to the current analog technologies about half the time, but usually have lower production costs and are more convenient to use.
• Buy a product NOW if you want it regardless of other considerations stated in this eHow. Expect that you won't be able to buy it tomorrow if it doesn't become popular.