Assignment #2 by Siri Killi Bilben

 Will it be adopted?

Elecom NFC Android Keyboard

TK-FNS040 foldable wireless typing tool for smartphone

Link: http://www.japantrendshop.com/elecom-nfc-android-keyboard-p-1483.html

The world's first NFC keyboard for Android devices, Elecom's TK-FNS040 is a foldable and wireless keyboard that means you can now type up your emails on your phone without having to mess around with tiny, irksome touchscreens. Just put your smartphone on the pad in the middle of the keyboard and you are ready to go.

To do my analysis/evaluation of this product I will use a model of Rogers, “Variables Determining the rate of adoption of innovations” from the book Diffusion of Innovations.

1.     Relative advantage

The price of a product can affect the rate of adoption. This product is kind of on the expensive side, but then again it seems cool and practical. In addition, I think that a motivation for adoption of this product can be to gain social status.

I believe this could be a great product for students that use their computer mostly to write down notes: The less you have to remember to bring to lecture the better. Another potential target group can be business people that travel a lot: The product could make computer-work on airplanes, restaurants etc. easier since it would not take up as much space and don’t need a charger as a regular computer do. It can be used whenever and wherever, which also is a relative advantage.

2. Compatibility

Your phone is no longer something that you just use to call people; it is a small computer that has your life in it. We are always looking for things that can make our life easier. This is a kind of product that you might even know you need until you get one. In other words, the need can actually come after adoption. There are other products that are portable and handy so the potential target group, have past experience with similar technologies and I therefore believe that the new technologies that this product represent will be compatible for them.

3.Complexity

I think this is a product that is not necessarily difficult to use, there are already different devices you connect to Bluetooth, so people know how to connect it with their smartphone. Right now the instructions is only in Japanese, so that can make it more complex to understand and use, but if the product is tried out in different countries with the instructions in their language I don’t think the perceived complexity will be high.

4.Trialability

In the quick research I have done, I could not find out whether the company offers beta - testing of the product. If they did it could result in important re-inventing to the potential users needs and also increase the awareness about the innovation. If they offered the product for testing to some students and business people it could increase the rate of adoption. I will say that the trialability is not as high as it should be, so this is something the company should consider.

5.Observability

This is a product that is easy to see and observe when it is used, like if student use it in lecture or business people use it in meetings etc. it is easy to see and explain what this product is used for, so the obervability is high.

So the conclusion of my analysis is; I think this is a product that will be adopted and at a relatively fast rate. This is because it has a good “score”, meaning: high degree of relative advantages, compatibility, trialability and observability, in addition to a low degree in complexity. 

By: Siri Killi Bilben