"new domain of application".
There are two critical features of speciation:
- "Speciation is not triggered by a transformation of the population within"
- "Speciation event allows the two populations of homogenous entities to grow quite distinct as a result of their now different selection environments"
Changes are not usually a result of revolutionary occurrances in the environment but more of a evolution over time. In the process, the technology is changed to adapt to a new environment. This new environment must have the resources to support the development of this change. As this technology grows, it may displace the older technologies. These new "lineages" of technologies may emerge as a result of combinging or "fusing" other technologies that are then synthesized or "converged". Sometimes, these technologies are not ready for a broad market and are isolated to a single purpose or "island of application".
The key is to find the right context or application for the emerging technology. Some of the key concepts when finding this application is
- view markets as being hetergeneous
- focus on market contexts and not the products that will fit into markets
- expand the criteria for the market as each company and case is different
- study users of the market
- "Learn by doing"
- Accelerate the evolution
There are numerous products that have come on the market that have gone through technology speciation. The PDA was a great technology but was expernsive and really catered to a small percentage of people. As the technology evolved, the PDA became the smartphone and the blackberry. Combining the functions of a mobile phone, calendaring, email, and the web, a new product emerged. Now, the iPhone builds on the the smartphone/blackberry by incorporating more multimedia features and improved use of it's GUI (through a touch screen).
I think the key element of this entire chapter is that new technology rarely just comes about one day. It's an evolution -sometimes slow but sometimes very quick, it just depends on the support structure and the resources of the environment in which it operates.
