Technology research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Technology research paper - Essay Example Some of the reasons include media intrusiveness and little added value that the Picturephone had over the normal telephones. Some articles report that the Picturephone failed to hit the markets positively because it lacked a robust reference point for its take-up. A majority of the successful new technologies have reference points, which are not extreme, for the society to get. Certain new technologies may seem disruptive but with societal reference point, these technologies are likely to be adopted by the society if they provide incremental improvements to the new users instead of comprehensive divergence from the normal life practices (Coburn 33)i. Prior surveys, before the Picturephone was launched, revealed that the market consumers were uncomfortable with the concept of being seen in the process of a telephone conversation. The Bell System defied the customers’ desires and wants proceeding to develop the new technology which was regarded as a solution seeking a problem. The Picturephone did not succeed because it failed to address the problems of the customers in the market, hence, customers did not have a reason to purchase and adopt the equipment (Brown 16). The Picturephones were installed in certain areas, such as Chicago and New York, in the United States in the 1960s and the cost of making telephone calls using these new technology equipment ranged between $16 and $27 for every minute used to make a call. Only 71 patrons had acquired the picturephones within the first half year of their development and marketing. Unfortunately, within a span of six years, the patrons of the Picturephones had declined to zero (Kaigo 3)ii. The use of Picturephones in making telephone calls was considered to be intrusive and crossed the privacy boundary of the users. The Picturephones did not improve the information on the voice but only made little advances on the communication. The flop of the technology