I have almost always been a laggard. I was not the first one to have a nintendo, a colour computer, a cell phone, email, a flat screen TV or any other stuff.
This was for a variety of reasons.
1) It costs more to be at the front of the curve. Economies of scale mean things are more expensive. Why buy this years version when the version from three years ago was brilliant enough then, and now it is cheap?
2) there are fewer errors since the bugs get sorted out.
3) It is more useful when lots of other people are using them, e.g. email and cellphones. The better example is probably fax machines, where they are only useful if the person you want to send something to has one.
4) I didn't care that much. I was never crazily into computer games so the old games were good enough.
5) It gave you moral superiority because you felt better than people who craved for material things. Framed differently... my life didn't/doesn't depend on material things.
This list could be a lot longer and it seems it is also a lot harder to put together a list of valid reasons for being an early adopter.
But...
isn't being part of the change, and being involved in the new exciting stuff worth a little premium? hmmmm
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