In praise of the early adopters
We’ve all encountered laggards. “One of those fancy new smartphones, is it?,” they will have said a decade ago, nodding towards the black slab you just pulled out of your pocket. “My old Nokia 3210 does everything I need. Fancy a game of Snake?”
In truth, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this attitude. They swore by their device’s long battery life and robust nature, just as you swore when your phone fell to the floor with a sickening thud.
The term “laggards” for people who prefer to stand still was coined back in 1962, when Professor Everett Rogers published Diffusion of Innovations. He didn’t intend the word in a rude way, but no company in its right mind will ever target them.
I thought of the laggards when I heard, in mid-July, that Valve had announced a new portable handheld console designed to play PC games.
Built on Linux and resembling a Nintendo Switch in many respects, the Steam Deck will prise countless PC gamers away from their computers and into the fresh air. Contrary to reputation, they seem keen to emerge from their darkened rooms: the Steam Deck sold out in minutes.
It’s the kind of device that has been catching the attention of tech fans for decades. Those buying it, however, are on the other side of the spectrum
