How Early Adopters Can Fail: Lessons From Kodak And Nokia

First movers have a massive upside opportunity to shape things and carve their work(s) into the history books.

It was Steve Jobs that said innovation is what distinguishes leaders from followers. Leaders are innovators in that they have to try new things and embrace change to keep moving forward.

An early adopter is an individual and by extension an organization that adopts new technologies or innovations before the majority. Usually, they're motivated by curiosity, inspired by a vision, or passion coupled with a high tolerance for risk and uncertainty. They're basically more daring than cautious.

With most technologies, the early stages are often a precedent on how it gets adopted or diffused. This is basically the process by which a new technology spreads across markets or societies.

Early adopters play a crucial role in that. They help overcome the initial resistance or skepticism that new technologies traditionally face. While also demonstrating the value and benefits of adopting them.

On the same breath, They provide feedback and suggestions to improve the quality and usability of new innovations, which stimulates further innovation and development.

However, there are evidently risks and challenges that come with being an early adopter. And how both are handled can be a big determinant on reaping the full benefits of being an early adopter. This post explores two organisations that didn't do too well in managing the challenges.

Image Source

Kodak And Complacency

Sometimes, success can be an enemy. Meaning it prevents one from achieving future success when the previous success stops being relevant. This is more or less what happened to Kodak.

Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975 after it was founded in 1888. Within a century of its existence, it became synonymous with photography thanks to the many good quality 'photographic products' it invented.

A digital camera was their latest invention back then in 1975 but they ignored the potential of this new technology for their film business which was the most profitable venture at that time.

Competitors like Canon or Samsung didn't ignore it. They embraced digital photography and innovation. Kodak failed to realise that consumer demands were changing, they were starting to prefer the features that came with digital photography such as convenience, speed and sharing options.

Kodak also missed the opportunity in leveraging their powerful brand to create digital products or services as the digital age progressed. It was just a matter of pivoting but it seems they were a bit too attached to their cash cow i.e film business.

The lesson from Kodak shows that early adopters must be willing to disrupt themselves and continue to adapt to the changing markets and customer needs.

It's not enough to create an innovation and just leave it at that thinking they've won. They need to create value from that innovation. Be it through adding new capabilities or forming partnerships.

Image Source

Nokia And Inflexibility

There's this rigidity that comes with more maturity or just achieving higher status. Layers are formed that are hard to break through to see different perspectives or possibilities.

Nokia was a world leader on mobile phones during the early 2000s. They had a dominant market share of the phone market with a good amount of loyal customer base.

Most of us who were teenagers around the first half of the 2000s owned the iconic Nokia 3310 which was a super cool phone back then.

When the smartphone era began in the late 2000s, Nokia was reluctant on embracing it and competing with Apple and Android. To them, it was not something important. They simply didn't take it seriously.

And when they decided to compete, they made the expensive mistake of choosing Microsoft Windows as its operating system. Microsoft Windows wasn't used my many so it had a small market share and a limited app ecosystem.

After that, Nokia gradually lost its market share and relevance to competitors who were able to offer better products and services. This also led to the company losing its innovative edge and loyal customer base.

In about a decade or less, the mobile phone world leader went from the top to the near bottom. Eventually, the mobile business was sold to Microsoft in 2014.

Image Source

The lesson from Nokia's failure is twofold. Early adopters need to be flexible and open-minded to newer technologies and platforms. They also need to offer products and services that at least meet expectations or the standards for the market they choose to play in.

In Closing

A common theme on both cases is a lack of adaptability. The words adoption and adaption are very similar. One can say adoption is a part of adaption in that you can't adopt a new thing and not adapt to it.

With technology, being a leader for a good amount of time is not guaranteed. It's only by adapting to the technological changes happening can an organization keep being a leader.

Some innovations which are often underrated in the beginning end up toppling tech leaders. ​Being an early adopter means becoming open to change and adapting with it. Complacency and Inflexibility may lead to short wins and potential long term losses.


Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.