Disruptive Technology: Understanding Its Impact and Examples

Disruptive technology, as the name suggests, refers to technological innovations that disrupt or change the current state of technology and market. It may replace existing technologies or bring new concepts. In the 21st century, disruptive technologies include flash memory and digital photography, which have replaced other types of personal data storage and film photography respectively.

According to Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School, disruptive technology is a concept that describes a technology that can replace existing technologies and ultimately change user experience, product value, and economic competition. This technology can bring substantial changes to existing technologies in multiple ways, surprising the market. For example, disruptive technology may have lower costs or simpler operations compared to existing technologies, attracting more potential users.

When disruptive technology expands the market at a low cost, it's called a 'low-end market disruptive technology'; when disruptive technology is a completely new technology that replaces existing technologies, it's called a 'new market disruptive technology'.

For example, digital cameras are both a low-end market disruptive technology and a new market disruptive technology. Due to their novel design and relatively low prices, digital photography has attracted many people and increased the total number of camera users. Compared to traditional film format photography, digital photography offers photographers a cheaper and easier way to process images, and has started to replace film and instant photography.

Additionally, the telephone is a new market disruptive technology that creates a communication method that has never existed before. Although people were initially reluctant to use the telephone, this technology eventually won the favor of countless people. Such technologies are generally referred to as 'sustaining technologies,' which are technological innovations that improve rather than replace existing technologies. For example, in the case of telephones, functions such as caller ID, phone recording, and teleconferencing from the original technology were preserved.

A typical representative of low-end market disruptive technology is the netbook. It is essentially a slimmed-down version of a laptop that has become popular among customers who do not yet have a laptop due to its low price and portability. Although netbooks have not replaced laptops, their target market is a niche market (the needs of low-end customers) that other technologies cannot enter.

It is difficult to say when disruptive technology will become a universal card that completely changes the system. Therefore, research and investment in such technologies are high-risk, as success brings great joy while failure is disregarded. Wise people always choose those effective disruptive technologies to invest in and successfully achieve transformation.