Riding the Coat Tails - or Missing the Boat?

As a guy who's constantly involved in technology, one of my biggest dilemmas is to when to jump on board. In one respect, it's always a great thing to be there from the get-go, to experience the technology and to reap the benefits that it's sown.

However, one of the downsides to this is that this is when the technology is the most expensive. As more of the product is sold, the price is generally dropped. A large part of the reason for this is that from the outset, the firm developing the product has to recoup some/most/all of it's R&D costs. Also, probably to an extent, they know that the can price it higher as there will be build-up for the latest and greatest and that there are many who will make their purchase to be the first one's on the block.

I sometimes waver in terms of what stage of the product life-cycle that I would make the purchase, but I will say this, I would never be these dudes that camp out in front of Best Buy the night before to purchase the newest iPod. I guess if that people are that driven to be the first on the block - no problem, all the power to them, but I'd never be one of those guys.

By the same token, I wouldn't want to wait TOO long either. The problem with technology is that it changes so frequently. If one waits for an approrpriate "price-point" before making the dive, then they also run the risk of their technology being obsolete sooner.

I know that personally, I've been very retarded <insert joke here> in terms of finally getting on board. Seriously, CD Players were out for a number of years before I finally jumped into the pool. The same thing for a DVD player.

Although I've shown restraint then, I'm chomping at the bit now over eReaders. As faithful netizens of my blog, you'll know that this is something that I've contemplated. Today, Barnes and Noble introduced a new COLOUR version of the Nook. This is the perfect dilemma. Do I really NEED a colour eReader? Maybe not, I've lived with reading monochrome for 4 decades. That having been said, my fear is that if I don't go with a colour, in two years, I'll be kicking myself in the keister as there was some benefit that I've overlooked.

Gotta love this technology. I'm never really quite sure what to do!

PS This is officially my 100th entry on my blog. I still don't know who actually reads this confounded thing, but heck at least it's out there :)