{"id":52725,"date":"2021-10-18T14:58:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T18:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=52725"},"modified":"2021-10-28T16:18:53","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T20:18:53","slug":"crossing-the-chasm-examples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/crossing-the-chasm-examples\/","title":{"rendered":"Products That Died Crossing the Chasm (Examples)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why do most new, high-tech products fail to reach the stage of mass adoption? What are some examples of products that died in the chasm?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book Crossing the Chasm<\/em>, Moore discusses two products that failed to cross the chasm: Segway’s personal transportation device and Motorola’s Iridium network. In both cases, Moore argues, they failed to reach the chasm stage due to technical limitations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn why most high-tech products die before crossing the chasm\u2014with examples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Products That Died in the Chasm<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To further drive home the dangers of the chasm period, Geoffrey Moore illustrates how high-tech products die before crossing the chasm with examples from Segway and Motorola. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Moore, personal transportation device Segway failed to break into the mainstream market because it couldn\u2019t navigate stairs. He likewise cites Motorola\u2019s Iridium network, a satellite phone system that never caught on with mainstream customers because it had poor signal reception indoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the technical nature of these product failures begs the question of whether they actually died in the chasm, or before they even got there. According to Moore, one of the key distinctions between the early and mainstream markets is that early-market customers evaluate a technology based on its own technical merit, whereas mainstream-market customers evaluate it mostly based on reputation and market share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, if a product fails due to publicized technical limitations, such as the inability of a mobility device to climb stairs, or a phone\u2019s poor reception, it seems likely that it was still in the early market at the time of its demise. If Segway failed because it couldn\u2019t climb stairs and Iridium failed because its signal couldn\u2019t penetrate walls, then it would appear that both these products died before<\/em> they reached the chasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Perspectives on Segway\u2019s Failure<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the case of the Segway, others have offered a variety of explanations for its failure in the market. For one thing, there is an active market for scooters and bicycles and similar transportation devices that don\u2019t climb stairs. However, rather than competing for a share of the scooter market, Segway presented its product as an alternative to walking<\/em>. Arguably, it was only this marketing decision that made stairs a problem for the Segway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, why didn\u2019t the Segway company just pivot its marketing strategy, and take over the scooter market? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one thing, their product retailed for about $5,000, which was roughly 10 times more than a motorized scooter, and 100 times more than a non-motorized scooter. The price alone put it out of reach of a large percentage of scooter buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Segway also looked different from other scooters, and became a punchline for making its users look like \u201cdorks.\u201d This further narrowed the potential customer base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the safety of the Segway was called into question, particularly after the owner of the company accidentally ran his Segway off a cliff and died in the crash<\/a>.In the end, it appears Segway was unable to identify any compelling application where none of these concerns would have been show stoppers. Thus, the Segway may actually have died in the application gap<\/em>, rather than the chasm: A few innovators thought it was cool, but it wasn\u2019t practical enough to attract early adopters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why do most new, high-tech products fail to reach the stage of mass adoption? What are some examples of products that died in the chasm? In his book Crossing the Chasm, Moore discusses two products that failed to cross the chasm: Segway’s personal transportation device and Motorola’s Iridium network. In both cases, Moore argues, they failed to reach the chasm stage due to technical limitations. Keep reading to learn why most high-tech products die before crossing the chasm\u2014with examples.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":52751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,45,103],"tags":[512],"class_list":["post-52725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-business","category-sales","tag-crossing-the-chasm","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nProducts That Died Crossing the Chasm (Examples) - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Moore gives two examples of products that failed to cross the chasm: Segway's personal transportation device and Motorola's Iridium network.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/crossing-the-chasm-examples\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Products That Died Crossing the Chasm (Examples)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Moore gives two examples of products that failed to cross the chasm: Segway's personal transportation device and Motorola's Iridium network.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/crossing-the-chasm-examples\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-18T18:58:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-28T20:18:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/technology-broken-glass.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/crossing-the-chasm-examples\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/crossing-the-chasm-examples\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Products That Died Crossing the Chasm (Examples)\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-18T18:58:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-28T20:18:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/crossing-the-chasm-examples\/\"},\"wordCount\":558,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/crossing-the-chasm-examples\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/technology-broken-glass.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Crossing the Chasm\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"Business\",\"Sales\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/crossing-the-chasm-examples\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/crossing-the-chasm-examples\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/crossing-the-chasm-examples\/\",\"name\":\"Products That Died Crossing the Chasm (Examples) - 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