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Looking at how someone uses an existing products/services, is there a way to tell what sort of adopter they are in the adoption curve for a new market? If so how, and what is the source for this approach?

Graph of Technology Adoption Lifecycle

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"Someone" - it would be helpful to know the context. The answer is going to be different for, say, a person face-to-face, a visitor to your website, a twitter user etc. – Jeremy Parsons Sep 10 '12 at 13:15

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I would suggest compiling a list of products/services which you consider 'cutting edge/advanced/standard/old" and asking people which ones they use. make sure you ask about a variety of products, so you are not thrown off by one answer. Tailor your list to your area for best results. So you can ask if they have a tablet, if they have a smartphone, if they have a PVR, if they use Facebook, if they use Twitter. Make sure you include some really cutting edge ones that hardly anybody will be using. The more 'cutting edge' products they use, the more they are likely to be an early adopter.

You can also ask about how often they upgrade certain technologies - for example how often do they replace their phone, their TV; and why they do that.

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