The longer a technology is in our lives, the less we get excited or even think about it. Smartphones are still relatively new-ish, but they’re not as exciting as they used to be, even though they’re a lot more capable. Now, it’s more about life benefits than cool gadgetry for many of us.
Somebody rumbled the iPhone rumor mill to a start recently, so now that’s a thing again. But I don’t care as much, and I’m wondering if you feel the same (iPhone, Samsung Galaxy S, whatever).
I call it the Facebook Arc. (Facebook is a particularly good example of this phenomenon, but I feel it applies to most tech gadgets and trends.)
For some people, Facebook and smartphones are hobbies, but I’m not talking about those people, whose excitement level is still the same. I’m talking about your average person on the street—not too tech geeky, not obsessive about trends.
At first, Facebook was at Harvard and some other Ivy League schools. Some of those people closed their accounts once it spread to non-Ivy League schools (early adopters who could see years ahead and/or just snobs, hard to tell). More dropped out when it went public (I remember hearing people complain about that).
Early collegiate adopters were already opting out. Early public adopters saw the signs when their relatives started to join. Lots more people saw the signs when corporations and grandparents showed up at the kegger.
And, of course, Facebook didn’t help anything with their security missteps. That got more people out, for sure.
The point is, there are still Americans (the world’s early Facebook adopters) joining Facebook today. But those people are late adopters, and this argument doesn’t apply to people in countries that haven’t had Facebook until recently. Companies just getting on now are late adopters, too.
Okay, back to smartphones.
The longer I have it, the less I find myself caring about my iPhone. It’s a smartphone. It works. Fine. I still have a 4S, but I’m not in enough of a rush to upgrade to pay full price.
In fact, I’ll just wait another year for my discounted upgrade. The iPhone 6 will be available.
Cool… I guess.