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October 10, 2008 4:21:40 PM CDT

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New Tech Sinks or Swims Based on Whims

Posted Jan 20, 08 8:09 PM CST in Business,  Technology 

(Newser) – Innovations like the iPod and Prius usually require new user skills, and acceptance can depend on one's willingness to adapt, writes G. Pascal Zachary in the New York Times. “You throw technologies into the market and see what sticks,” he quotes one analyst as saying. Revolutionary stuff can sink, while tough-to-master can swim.

The 1970s PicturePhone, which provided an early video chat, “was superfluous, adding little information to voice alone,” says one scholar—so it failed. Yet Toyota’s Prius has succeeded despite unusual operation requirements; customers seem willing to learn if "they will save themselves and the planet." In the end, innovators can’t know what buyers will embrace, Zachary writes. They can only hope.

Source New York Times

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A visitor looks at Hybrid Car "Prius" displayed at the Toyota Motor Corp's showroom, Toyota Mega Wave in Tokyo, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007. Toyota said Monday it sold 2.34 million vehicles globally in the...   (Associated Press)
Unsold 2008 Prius hybrid sedans sit on a lot at a Toyota dealership in the southeast Denver suburb of Centennial, Colo., in this Nov. 4, 2007 file photo. Toyota said Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008, that its...   (Associated Press)
The original iPod is displayed after its introduction by Apple Computer Inc. chief executive officer Steve Jobs during a news conference in Cupertino, Calif. in this Oct. 23, 2001 file photo. Since the...   (Associated Press)
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