Disruptive technology

The term disruptive technology was coined by Clayton M. Christensen[?] to describe a new, low cost, often simpler technology that displaces an existing sustaining technology.

Disruptive technologies are usually initially inferior to the technology that they displace, but their low cost creates a market that induces technological and economic network effects that provide the incentive to enhance them to match and surpass the previous technology.

Examples of successful disruptive technologies:

• mass-market cellular telephony
• the Internet protocol
• voice over IP
• digital cameras
• personal computers
• NASCAR
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Examples of sustaining technologies:

• mainframe computers
• fixed-line telephony
• photographic film

Not all technologies promoted as disruptive technologies have actually prospered as well as their proponents had hoped. However, some of these technologies have only been around for a few years, and their ultimate fate has not yet been determined.

Unresolved examples of technologies promoted as 'disruptive technologies'

• Music downloads vs. compact disks
• e-Books vs. paper books
• e-commerce vs. physical shops

Failed technologies originally promoted as 'disruptive technologies'

• make list here