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The risks of riding technology's bleeding edge

No doubt, it's wicked cool to snag the latest high-tech gizmo, but you may also be the first to have problems.

By MADHUSMITA BORA, Times Staff Writer
Published August 1, 2007

Thirteen months after Brian Mellgren bought his prized Xbox 360, he was in mourning.

Death came in the middle of a Guitar Hero 2 game as the console flashed three red lights -- a phenomenon that came to be known in gamers' lingo as the "red ring of death."

Then it went silent.

Mellgren had to send back his favorite toy in a coffin, the return shipping boxes dispatched by manufacturer Microsoft Corp. The company tried reviving it, but after failed attempts, replaced it with a new one.

Mellgren's tale resonates with his fellow early adopters of technology. The cool factor of being among the first few to own a new gadget is always laced with some heavy risks, experts say. Sure, you earn the bragging rights, but you also have to be tough to bag your toy if it dies on you.

It's happened with Playstation 2s, with Xbox 360s and now some iPhones. Then there's the lurking danger of a company launching a newer, cheaper version close on the heels of a star-studded product debut.

"The biggest drawback is the price," said Jim Barry, a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association. "When you get the first generation of gadgets, it's always expensive, there are always kinks and bugs to get worked out."

Yet, early adopters make up 13.5 percent of the population, according to the Diffusion of Innovations theory formulated by Everett Rogers, a communications scholar.

"It's a basic instinct to be first in line," said David Maister, a Boston-based business author, speaker and consultant. "People have stood in line for new movies, Harry Potter books, Beatles records. It's more of a teenage phenomenon."

Sujay Vasant, 17, of Sarasota, who stood 10 hours in line for his iPhone, says his zeal to try out new gadgets is simply "inexplicable." Nothing quashes that instinct, not even the malfunctioning of his new iPhone or the swelling rumors that a new, cooler, cheaper version may hit the markets by the year's end.

"I got into it ever since I've been out of middle school," he said. "You can say it's a hobby."

Some early adopters like to call themselves "influencers." One of them is Charles Armstrong, founder of Spark Labs LLC, a Tampa-based innovative design think tank.

"We decide what takes root and what doesn't," he said. For Armstrong, the thrill in new technology emanates from that first glimpse into the future.

For Daniel Scott, an employee at Best Buy in South Tampa, the excitement lies in sharing the story of the new gadgets.

However, Benjamin Barber, a professor at the University of Maryland and author of Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole, calls it "shopoholism."

"It's about hyper-consumerism and the marketing drive that makes people compulsive to shop," he said.

Mellgren, who considers himself an early adopter, bought the Xbox 360 six months after it appeared on the shelves.

"Awful!" said the 27-year-old St. Petersburg man, when asked about how he felt when it died on him.

"I thought I had made all of the right decisions, waiting for a couple of months and it still broke."

But that nightmare still may not stop him from being among the first rush of buyers the next time a cool toy hits the market.

"In future, I am just gonna try to exercise more caution," he said.

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this story. Madhusmita Bora can be reached at mbora@sptimes.com or (813) 225-3112.

[Last modified August 1, 2007, 02:34:16]