> Disruptive technologies are dismissed as toys because when they are first launched they “undershoot” user needs. The first telephone could only carry voices a mile or two. The leading telco of the time, Western Union, passed on acquiring the phone because they didn’t see how it could possibly be useful to businesses and railroads – their primary customers. What they failed to anticipate was how rapidly telephone technology and infrastructure would improve (technology adoption is usually non-linear due to so-called complementary network effects). The same was true of how mainframe companies viewed the PC (microcomputer), and how modern telecom companies viewed Skype. (Christensen has many more examples in his books).
Skype feels like a bad examples it was always fairly obvious video chat would be prevalent eventually. It was never obvious that Skype was the best answer, and there were Skype alternatives with similar offerings which have failed.
Skype itself may not last the long run if it can’t keep up with zoom or whatnot.
Skype feels like a bad examples it was always fairly obvious video chat would be prevalent eventually. It was never obvious that Skype was the best answer, and there were Skype alternatives with similar offerings which have failed.
Skype itself may not last the long run if it can’t keep up with zoom or whatnot.