Series 4 Ep11 - Early Adopters

Early adopters are good and bad for society. On the one hand they keep prices of new technology unrealistically high by being willing to stand in a long queue to pay over the odds for a new phone or computer that in 6 months will cost half the amount. On the other hand they provide us with huge opportunities to laugh, who can forget the HD DVD debacle, where a bunch of early adopters bought their expensive new DVD players only to have them discontinued in favour of Blu-ray. The same people have spent twice as much money on Plasma screens, LCD TVs, laptops and multiple iPhones and iPads compared to the average person who waits 6 months more and gets them on special offer. The early adopter is never satisfied, the early adopter feels he's winning, but in fact is losing. Eager to put the boot in further we examine this strange product of evolution.