Users Adopt New Technology System If/When
The user adoption relationship displayed above has some important implications for new systems adoption:
- During the early stages of adoption, networks for the new system will be small, whereas networks for the old (established) system will be large. It follows that for the new system to be adopted during the early stages of its lifecycle, the Technology Value of the new system must be high.
- Lifecycle dynamics and user adoption decisions also suggest that the validation of new systems by early adopters is the catalyst for achieving critical mass in the adoption of new systems.
- If network effects are large, then content providers and users will be more reluctant to switch to new systems unless the technology value of new systems is very large or until sufficient sized networks for new systems are established.